The Honorable Penny S. Pritzker

Secretary of Commerce

U.S. Department of Commerce

1401 Constitution Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20230

The Honorable Anthony Foxx

Secretary of Transportation

U.S. Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE

Washington, DC 20590

The Honorable John F. Kerry

Secretary of State

U.S. Department of State

2201 C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20520

May 27, 2015

Dear Secretaries Pritzker, Foxx and Kerry,

A commitment to healthy competition has always been a source of pride in the U.S. This 

competition in business is what helps ensure fair pricing and fair options are available to the 

American people and to the international parties who enter our country for business and 

leisure travel. Today, we stand at a critical juncture where that fair and healthy competition is 

in jeopardy. 

U.S. legacy airlines, American, Delta and United, are attempting to persuade you and other 

members of Congress to keep competing airlines from expanding in the U.S. They are 

demanding that the U.S. take an unprecedented step in thwarting this competition by 

freezing new routes for three Gulf carriers: Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways. Why? They

claim that the Gulf carriers receive unfair support from their governments. The truth is that 

virtually all global airlines, including U.S. carriers, have received some form of financial or 

regulatory subsidies from their governments. 

It is because of this fact that the U.S. and all 114 other Open Skies nations agreed to articles of 

“fair competition,” based on the solid foundation of unrestricted market access, not how a 

government treats its airlines under financial and commercial regulations. To freeze routes for 

the Gulf carriers would effectively revoke our “Open Skies” agreements with the United Arab 

Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, and give U.S. legacy carriers a stranglehold on air travel that would 

negatively impact our entire economy. 

Consider the following:

 

The exhibitions industry, through direct and indirect spending, contributed $71.3 billion to the 

U.S. GDP in 2014. This economic revenue was generated, in part, through business conducted 

at exhibitions and other face-to-face events with international parties. Freezing routes for 

foreign carriers, as American, Delta and United Airlines are demanding, would cripple foreign 

business access into the U.S., denying U.S. companies of all sizes access to hundreds of 

thousands of dollars in sales and contracts.
Additionally, Open Skies agreements have helped bring more U.S. cities into the international travel market, expansion that 

drives significant economic revenue. A record 75 million international travelers visited the U.S. in 2014 and spent $180 

billion on travel goods and services, directly supporting over one million U.S. jobs. That was all because of Open Skies. The

U.S. is projected to reach 100 million international visitors a year by 2021, but without Open Skies, that goal will remain just 

a dream. Cities like our own home market of Dallas, as well as Detroit, Las Vegas, Memphis, Minneapolis, Portland and Salt 

Lake City have benefitted from new or enhanced direct connections to and from international destinations. These 

connections have translated directly into business opportunities as foreign investors take advantage of access into our 

markets and access to our workforce.

It’s imperative that you remember Open Skies agreements are a tried and true mechanism to creating healthy competition

that benefits us all. The agreements permit free-market access in international aviation, eliminating government control 

over routing, frequency and pricing, driving down prices and delivering billions in savings to travelers and billions in revenue 

potential to business. 

We believe that Open Skies agreements should be preserved given their benefits to the entire U.S. travel industry, not just 

their impact on three individual airlines. 

Open Skies agreements work for the American traveler and the American economy. This country was built on hard work 

and healthy competition and we cannot let the desires of three airlines block new competition and limit traveler choice. If 

these U.S. carriers succeed, both consumers and our overall economy will suffer. Stand by Open Skies agreements and 

stand by the U.S. economy.

Sincerely,

David DuBois, CMP, CAE, FASAE, CTA

President & CEO

International Association of Exhibitions and EventsTM (IAEE)