Association of Professional Flight Attendants 

May 28,2015 

The Honorable Anthony Foxx 

Secretary 

U.S. Department ofTransportation 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

The Honorable John F. Kerry 

Secretary 

U.S. Department of State 

2201 C Street, NW 

Washington, DC 20520 

The Honorable Penny Pritzker 

Secretary 

U.S. Department of Commerce 

1401 Constitution Ave NW 

Washington, DC 20230 

Offc:e of the President 

Dear Secretary Foxx, Secretary Kerry, and Secretary Pritzker: 

On behalf of 25,000 working men and women and their families, I write to you today to request 

that you move to begin consultations with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to address the 

massive subsidies those governments provide their state-owned airlines. Furthermore, given the 

aggressive growth these carriers have undertaken since the release of the evidence against their 

multi-billion dollar subsidization, I ask that you make every possible effort to convince these 

companies to voluntarily freeze their expansion until such consultations are completed. Our 

careers and our livelihoods are at stake. Indeed, the membership of the Association of 

Professional Flight Attendants faces no threat more serious and urgent than Qatar and the UAE's 

violations of Open Skies policy. 

To be very clear, APF A strongly supports Open Skies policy and the vast majority of agreements 

the U.S. has in place with countries around the world. For decades, Open Skies agreements have 

allowed our company to service foreign markets that are important to our customers, which has 

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The Honorables Anthony Foxx, John F. Kerry, and Penny Pritzker 

May 28, 2015 

Page2 

provided excellent flying opportunities and job growth for our membership. The behavior of the 

governments of Qatar and the UAE is an anomaly, and one that must be addressed through the 

mechanisms provided in the agreements. 

In the years since our industry's deregulation, and especially since the recent recession which 

took an outsized toll on U.S. airlines, the rank and file employees have played the most 

important role in making our companies successful and able to compete globally. This is 

especially true of flight attendants, who comprise the companies' greatest marketing asset, and of 

American Airlines. Now, after years of sacrifice, the new American is once again a world-class 

carrier. Unfortunately, the subsidies being showered upon Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Qatar 

Airways threaten to undo much ofthe APFA membership's hard work and worse. With each 

international frequency an American carrier is forced to close due to the displacement of traffic 

to a subsidized carrier, hundreds of jobs are lost both on the aircraft and on the ground. Flight 

attendants are already beginning to feel the squeeze. 

The carriers in question have flooded six of American's major international hubs with undue 

capacity, putting thousands of jobs across our system in jeopardy. Their entry into these markets 

has not created any meaningful passenger demand. Instead, these routes and frequencies simply 

displace traffic. The Gulf carriers' strategy is simple: siphon off as much business as possible 

with subsidized fares and postpone profitability until after the American carriers are forced to 

scale down their networks. With an essentially endless supply of government support, the Gulf 

carriers can afford to undermine U.S. airlines and their workers for a very long time. 

Although conventional wisdom dictates that competition is good for consumers, any benefit our 

passengers may see from this subsidized capacity will certainly be short-lived. The alluring low 

fares will soon go away. As soon as they do, passengers will discover that the Gulf carriers have 

undermined our network such that service to small and medium-sized domestic markets has 

greatly diminished or been eliminated entirely. Without a robust international operation, there 

will be less need to feed our U.S. hubs with traffic from smaller markets. As a result, the 

negative impact these abuses have on jobs will extend far beyond the big city hubs. It is critically 

important for your departments to take a wide view of this issue and consider both the long-term 

and downstream effects of this unfair competition. 

One of the most apparent examples of this unfair competition is the JFK to Milan route. Emirates 

operates this route with a Boeing 777 (although it plans to switch to the even larger A380 soon) 

and offers two-for-one fares. Although the flight continues on to Dubai, it is marketed to New 

Yorkers as a Milan nonstop. Emirates can only operate this flight because of the unfair benefits it 

receives from its government owners. Emirates recently announced plans to establish more fifth 

freedom flights. The company's pursuit ofthis strategy puts flight crews and workers on the 

ground at JFK and beyond at serious risk. 
The Honorables Anthony Foxx, John F. Kerry, and Penny Pritzker 

May 28, 2015 

Page 3 

Additionally, it has been reported that flight attendants at the three major Gulf carriers are 

routinely subject to harsh treatment, discrimination, and unjustifiable termination. APFA bas 

confirmed these troubling reports first hand. As a mature and profitable global industry, 

commercial aviation should be progressive and its career opportunities should provide a pathway 

for the world's disadvantaged. It is APF A's position that all countries party to Open Skies 

agreements should be committed to the fair and equitable treatment of airline employees. 

APF A bas worked bard to make American a global carrier. Flight attendants are confident in our 

product and our service. We know that the new American can compete with any carrier in the 

world, provided we are competing on a level playing field. In the case of Emirates, Etihad 

Airways, and Qatar Airways, the playing field is not level. I urge you to take immediate action to 

rectify the situation. Our employer's long-term viability, and therefore our careers, are at stake. 

Thank you for your consideration. 

aura Glading 

National President, APF A