April 20, 2015

The Honorable Anthony R. Foxx Secre tary of Transportation US Department ofTransportat i on 1200 NewJersey Ave SE Washington , DC 20590 The Honorable John F. Kerry Secretary of State US Department of State 2201 C Street NW Washington, DC 20520 Dear Secretary Foxx and Secretary Kerry: The New York City metro region is home to the largest airport system in the United States with LaGuardia , JFK International and Newark Liberty International as the anchors
. Combined, these airports are the second busiest in the world for passenger traffic and number one for total flight operations
. All three airports are operated by the Port Authoriti es of New York and New Jersey
. Between the three airports, the two port authorities , the businesses , restaurants , hotels and transportation facilitie s , the number ofjobs d i rectly impacted throughout the metro New York region is enormous . This is ex actly why we are concerned about news reports that Gulf carriers - Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Em i rates Airline - are being significantly subsidized by the countries of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
. These subsidies which total more than 

### $40 billion will certainly impact U.S
. carriers flying in and out of New York and New Jersey and it will limit their ability to compete effectively with global carriers
. What is at stake? American jobs
. Airline workers, vendors and contractors affiliated with the airlines and workers in the service industry will be impacted first if our domestic carriers ultimately lo se out to these heavily -subsidi zed Gulf competitors
. As head of the largest community based immigrant organization in New York State, Make the Road New York (MRNY), we are deeply concerned that many of our 

### 16,000 members will be adversely impacted if the U
. S
. carriers are forced to reduce flights and operations as a result of Qatar and UAE violating the spir it of the Open Skies agreements . The ri pple effect to immigrant communities i n New York and New Jersey will be f i nancially devastat i ng to hard working families - many of whom live paycheck to paycheck
.

BROOKLYN 301 G ROVE STR EET BROO KLY N , NY 11 237 m.. 71 8 4 18 7690 FAX 7 1 8 41 8 9635 

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ATENI SLAND
. NY1030 2 T U 71 8 727 122 2 FAX 71 8 981 8077 STATEN ISLAND 278 COLO NY AV EN U E ST

ATEN IS LAND, NY 10306**TE~** 718 987 5503 LONG ISLAND 1090 SU FFOLK AV EN U E BRE NTWOOD
. N Y 11717 !EL 6 31 2 31 222 0 FAX 63 1 2 31 2229We urge you to act quickly and call to open consultations with Qatar and the UAE to resolve this situation, protecting the U.S. airline industry from harm as well as the millions of workers who depend on it for their livelihood. Sincerely,

Deborah 

### Axt and Javier Valdes Co-Executive Directors Make the Road New York cc: Senator Chuck Schumer Senator Kirstin Gillibrand Rep. Joseph Crowley Rep. Gregory Meeks Rep. Grace Meng Rep. Jerrold Nadler Rep. Jose Serrano Rep. Steve Israel Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney Rep. Eliot Engel Governor Andrew Cuomo Mayor Bill de Blasia



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