May 22,2015 

### The Honorable John Kerry Secretary 

### U.S. Department of State 

### 2201 C Street, 

### NW Washington. 

### DC 20520 The Honorable Anthony Foxx Secxetary U.S. Department ofTransportation 1200 New Jersey A venue, SE Washington, 

### DC 20590 The Honorable Penny 

### S. Pritzker Secretary 

### U

.S. Department ofCommerce 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20230 Re: 

### Dockets No. DOS-2015-0016, DOT-OST-2015-0082, a 

### DOC-2015-0001 Dear Secretaries Kerry, Foxx, and Pritzker: My name is Roy Estaris and 

### I have built a small business 

### ful service travel agency in Virginia Beach called The Travel Outlet, which I have now ned and opera ted for nearly 29 years. 

### Our niche market is in serving customers 

### tr veling to and tl·om the Philippines. Throughout three decades oftravel experience, have had the pleasure of working in a robust, competitive and volatile industry that h seen global growth decade after decade

. I write now to express my grave concerns with an effort by merica' s tluee largest airlines to cut out the competition fiom fast-growing airlines ·n the Middle East by asking the federal government to renegotiate long-established Open 'kics agreements with the Gulf

### States. To do so would severely hurt the intemational vel community and particularly businesses like mine dedicated to serving global ravelers. These agreements originally came together to build competi on in an otherwise high banier to entry market; and, in so doing, to expand intemati al air travel both to andfrom the United States

. Open Skies agreements have done 

### j st that- they've made possible the opportunity for members ofour communities to onnect with the rest ofthe world in a way that was p(eviously inaccessible to us. In many ways, it' s been an honor to help connect my neigh rs to their communities around the world. And, we'v e grown over the years as inter ational travel has increased. We now have an office in Manila in addition to our shop in irginia Beach. Eighty percent ofmy business hails from the Far East and Dubai. uch oftlus success and growth has been 

### a direct result ofOpen Skies. The current agreements are important to allowing business ners like me flexibility to offer competitive pdces and convenient access - not to men on comfortable travel. Changing the game now would punish intemational traveler including a majority ofmy customers, who would likely face fewer options and higher ices

. In my experience, the major U.S. airlines are lagging fal' behind the Gulf State can ers in terms ofaffordability, comfort and convenience not to mention sometimes even be er customer service. Any attempt to curtail or 

### restrict access to these GulfState airlin would negatively impact my customers and my business 

### a great deal. For that reason, I ask that you maintain these agreements as ey 

### are today. Small business owners like me compete for survival on a daily bas

. Global airlines should too
. Thank you for your consideration. Yours Truly,

oy Estaris Owner, The Travel Outlet Offices in Virginia Beach, VA & Manila

5347

**~i la**  Lane Suite 106 Virginia Beach Vi inia 23464 PH 757 424 33H Fax. 757 424 7320 www: the aveloutlet.com