April 16,2015 

The Honorable Anthony R. Foxx 

Secretary of Transportation 

US Department of Transportation 

1200 New Jersey Ave SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

RE: United States Open Skies 

Dear Secretary Foxx: 

On behalf of the City of Fort Worth, I am writing you today to discuss United States Open Skies 

and how we can level the playing field for American businesses and maintain the environment of 

fair market competition that has been a hallmark of America's success. 

Over the past decade, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates Airline have received 

billions of dollars in government subsidies and other unfair benefits in direct violation of United 

States Open Skies policy. I am asking you to recommend that the U.S. government open 

consultations with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in order to address the massive, 

market-distorting subsidies that those nations provide their state-owned airlines. 

To be clear, I firmly support Open Skies and recognize the considerable benefits that the policy 

has brought to American travelers and the U.S. economy. I am not seeking to end the agreements 

with Qatar and the UAE, nor are we raising concerns with regard to any of the more than one 

hundred other Open Skies agreements. I, with others, am simply requesting consultations, which 

are provided for within the Open Skies agreements themselves. 

These subsidies are altering the free market framework established by Open Skies and they will 

ultimately have a negative economic impact here in the United States. Heavy subsidization by 

the Gulf carriers is contributing to excess capacity, which draws passengers and revenue from 

United States airlines. If U.S. based airlines continue to lose market share, it will lead to service 

cuts and ultimately American job losses. In fact, according to a white paper released by the 

Partnership for Open & Fair Skies, each route that is lost to Qatar, Etihad or Emirates will result 

in an average net loss of 821 good U.S. jobs. These are jobs that we cannot afford to lose and 

they should not be lost as a result of unfair competition from foreign carriers. 

In response to these very serious concerns, some have stated that American, Delta and United 

must simply do more to compete and offer better services. As someone who is familiar with 

these airlines and their ser-Vices in our region, I can assure you that they are doing more to 

compete and creatively looking at ways to offer better and specialized services. They can 

compete with any airlines in the world as long as they are competing on an equal playing field 

and everyone is playing by the same set of rules. It is the United States governrrient's 

responsibility to ensure fair competition with regard to Open Skies policy, which is why we are 

asking you to open consultations on this issue. 

Fort Worth 

httd 

mr I 

s 1 0-150427-006 

BETSY PRICE MAYOR 

T HE C ITY OF FoRT W oRTH • 1000 T HROCKMORTON STREET • FoRT W oRTH, TE.xAs 76102 

817-392-6118 * FAX 817-392-2409 .. 

~.! Printed on recycled paper 
If you have any questions regarding this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me directly on 

my cell at 817-392-6120. Thank you for your service for our country. 

c: 

Secretary John F. Kerry 

Senator John Cornyn 

Senator Ted Cruz 

Representative Kay Granger 

Representative Marc Veasey 

Representative Michael Burgess 

Representative Joe Barton 

Representative Kenny Marchant 

Representative Roger Williams 

s 10-150427-006