### .· DALLAS CouNTY JuoGE CLAY LEwis JENKINS

Apri l 13 , 2015

T he Honorable Anthony R. Foxx Secretary of Transportation US Depatiment of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Ave SE Wa s hington. DC 20590
Dear Secretar y F oxx , On behalf of thousands of American wo rkers here in Texas and across the cou ntry, 

### I want to thank you for your recent action and strongly urge the Adm ini stration to open consultations with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) so that we can address the subsidies and othe r unfair state support that those countries a re funneling into their government-owned airlines.
As you know, Qatar Airways , Etihad A irways and Em irates Airline h ave received a w hopping $42 billion in direct subsidies a nd othe r government benefits over the last decade alone , in direct violation of our Open Skies agreements

. You a lso know how vital our a irlin e industry is to this co untry: It he lp s drive nearly $1.5 trillion in U.S. economic activity, it directly emp loys 580,000 people, and it supports a total more than II million jobs
across the U.S. A hea lth y airlin e industry is particularly imp otiant here in N01th Texas where American Airlin es is the second largest emp loyer, with Da ll as 

### I Fort Wotih International serving as the carrier ' s biggest hub.

If ou r airlines are forced to cut back on international routes, they wi ll be forced to trim domestic service too , and fewer flights mean fewer jobs. In fact , every roundtrip international flight that our a irlin es lose to the government-owned Gu lf carrie rs comes at a cost of more than 800 U.S. jobs. That cost is simp ly too high a price to pay.
On a personal note , I was in Rome last month with my fam il y. My last night there we stayed at the Hilton at the airport. Half the flight attendants and pilots in the executive lounge were from the above three airlines. The Hilton is con nected by a 500 meter skybrid ge to the airport as are the parking lots for locally based travelers. All of the e l ectronic advettising a lo n g that skybridge was switchin g between ads for these three carriers. T hese carriers are serious about gaining market share. So be it, but let ' s have a level playing field.

T he Open Skies agreements provide for consu ltations and I strong ly urge the Administration to exerc i se its right to call for them and a l so to seek a freeze on new flights into the U.S. by the Gu lf airlines w hil e those consultations go forward. American worke rs deserve a level playing field. Respectfully ,

Dallas County Administration Building clay.jenkins@dallascounty.org Dallas, TX 75202 (214) 653-7949CLAY LEWIS JENKINS DALLAS COUNTY JUDGE 411 ELM STREET DALLAS, TX 75202



### 510-150507-011 Th e H o n o ra ble Anth o n y R. Foxx Secre ta ry o fTran s p o rta ti o n U S De partme nt of Tra n s po rtat io n 1200 New Jer sey A ve SE W as hin gton , D C 2 0 5 90 

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