US airlines at odds over aviation agreements with Qatar and UAE

Two groups of U.S. airlines are in a dogfight over whether the Trump administration should crack down on two Middle Eastern countries that are offering low fares to their customers and increasingly expanding their operations into the U.S. due to their governments' help.

At issue are Open Skies agreements in which Qatar and the United Arab Emirates agreed with the U.S. that they won't allow their governments to artificially lower fares as a result of government subsidies.

Delta, United, and American Airlines, along with some members of Congress, are petitioning the Trump administration to address the billions of dollars they claim Abu Dhabi and Doha are funneling toward their own airlines, and as a result, undermining the U.S. carriers' ability to compete internationally.

They say that since 2004, the UAE and Qatar been given more than $50 billion in subsidies to their state-run carriers Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways, which they say is a violation of Open Skies.

The U.S. has negotiated more than 100 Open Skies agreements with various countries since the early 1990s. The policies were “designed to eliminate government involvement in airline decision-making about routes, capacity, and pricing in international markets,” according to the U.S. State Department.