## Hawaii Tourism Association

PO Box 208 , Haleiwa

, HI 96712

- 0208

Phone: +1

- 808

- 591

- 6100 Fax: +1 (808) 356

- 0196

E

- Mail : aloha@hawaiitourismassociation.com

Web : www. hawaiitourismassociation.com

Docket ID: DOT

- OST

- 2015

- 0082 Agency: Department of Transportation May 26, 2015

The Honorable John F. Kerry Secretary of State U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20520

The Honorable Anthony Foxx Secretary of Transportation

U.S. De partment of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590

The Honorable Penny S. Pritzker Secretary of Commerce U.S. Department of Commerce 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20230

CC:

Senator Brian Schatz

Senator Mazie Hirono Representative Tulsi Gabbard Representative Mark Takai

Dear Secretary Kerry, Secretary Foxx, and Secretary Pritzker,

My name is Juergen T Steinmetz and I am the president of the Hawaii Tourism Ass ociation (HITA), a private not

- for

- profit organization b ased in Honolulu . HITA exists to encourage Hawaii’s official state tourism marketing organization, the Hawaii Tourism Authority , to recognize emerging “non

- priority ”

source markets for Hawaii such as India, the UAE, Africa , etc . I represent the Hawaii t our ism industry through HITA on the Political Outreach Steering C ommittee for Brand USA in Washington.2 I am also the publisher of eTurboNews (eTN), a flagship global news service for the travel and tourism industry based in Hawaii. eTN is a daily bulletin of reports written by a global team of contributing editors, writers, guest analysts and occasional correspondents, focused on the global travel and tourism industry. eTN content includes news about aviation, transportation, events, corporate, people, mark et trends, political and legislative developments.

I write to express my concerns regarding the current debate about the “ Open Skies ” policies as established by the US De partment of Transportation which involves airlines based in the United States, the UA E and Qatar.

Briefly, O pen S kies is an international policy concept that has liberalized the rules and regulations of the international aviation industry in order to create a free

- market environment for the airline industry

and to “liberalize the rules f or international aviation markets and minimize government intervention as it applies to passenger, cargo, and combination air transportation as well as scheduled and charter services.” Open Skies has indeed enhanced connectivity for many regional US points that would

otherwise have no di rect flights to and from the Middle East or Europe . These long

- established international agreements have been a boon to many US markets including Hawaii.

Of equal importance, Open Skies has benefitted many US businesses. As but one example, Abu

Dhabi

- based Etihad Airways has become a major client of General Electric, Sabre Departure Control

S ystem s and Boeing

-- and they are doing business with many American financial institutions. Etihad Airways are in the process of ac quiring 71 Boeing Dreamliners which will make them the largest

Dreamliner fleet in the entire world. Because of Open Skies, this single carrier delivers nearly 200,000 passengers to Delta, United, Jetblue and American airlines. Because of Etihad Airways in vestment in the latest equipment, they will soon be operating with the lowest carbon footprint of virtually any

airline in the world.

The real story behind this current dispute lies in the fact that our US

- based airlines have failed to deliver the high le vel of passenger service that their international competition now routinely delivers. Their competition invested in their airports, bought the most modern aircraft with the lowest pollution levels and they have delivered the best service in the skies and o n the ground.

The following quotes are fr om Professor Geoffrey Lipman. Professor Lipman was the head of Government Affairs for the International Airline Transport Association; was the first President of the World Travel and Tourism Council; served as Assi stant Secretary General to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, and he is currently the President of the Hawaii, Brussels, Bali and Seychelles

- based International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP).

“Unfortunately, our US carriers with their massive, commoditized, totally protected domestic market generally failed to respond adequately to the changing competitive international service and quality dynamics. Inflight and on the ground they did not meet the strategic investment, product and human resource innovations of foreign competitors. So now, the champions of open competition and the choice of the market turned 180 degrees and launched their protectionist legal barrage. And careless of passenger, destination or societal interest they want t he rules of the game changed again. Because the competitive heat in the kitchen they designed, built and pushed around the globe just got

too hot to handle.”

“A read of the claims and responses makes it very clear that open skies is a better bet for the world community and for passengers, as well as the US economy

– and the country that has successfully sold this now globally recognized concept to the world is faced with two choices

– be bold and stay3 with your vision or be weak

- because some of your air lines don’t like the consequences

- and sink into the abyss of protectionism.”

“This is no real choice

- in fact if the US wants to maintain its aviation leadership role, it should take a serious look at further liberalizing its ownership and control prov isions, as well as its protected massive domestic base to bring more foreign investment and innovation, to boost its aviation, tourism and trade marketplace.”

“And if it [the US] really wants to be a strategic leader in a world where green growth will bec ome the

new norm

- because we need growth for inclusive socio

- economics and green to fight the existential threat of climate change. It should look at innovative regulatory frameworks that create better market opportunity for those carriers, domestic or in ternational, who operate with the lowest carbon footprint.”

For Hawaii travel and tourism is our largest international export. Tourism is also our largest creator of jobs. Open Sky agreements contribute to our competiveness on a global scale and opens ne w markets and opportunities.

I would even go a step further to instead of going after the Gulf airline connectors; the United States

should continue open the Skies on its domestic market, specially for our Island State.

Hopefully then, the U.S. Consume r could get access to what passes off even remotely as high quality , and what the rest of the world, especially Asia, takes for granted.

The open Sky agreement between the Un ited States, Qatar and the UAE should not be touched

. T he

issue is not abo ut subsidies on one side or the other ; it’s about compet it iveness, quality service

, consumer choices and jobs.

Thank you for your kind consideration of my perspective.

Sincerely,

Juergen T Steinmetz

President Hawaii Tourism Association