Emirates President: US Airlines Are Vilifying Us So They Can Modify Open Skies

Emirates Airlines President Tim Clark gives a speech during a news conference at Sydney airport March 31, 2013. A flyover by a Qantas Airways and an Emirates Airlines Airbus A380 took place on Sunday as part of a promotion to mark the commencement of the five-year alliance between struggling national flag carrier Qantas Airways Ltd and Emirates Airline, and was being promoted as the first time that two commercial airline A380 planes have flown in formation. Australia's competition regulator granted conditional final approval on March 27 for the alliance, just days before the first Qantas flight is due to transit through Dubai. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz (AUSTRALIA - Tags: TRANSPORT BUSINESS) - RTXY3LZ

Emirates president Sir Tim Clark is once again making his voice heard over the allegations of Open Skies agreement violations. The leader of one of the “Middle East Three” airlines warns that if the long-standing agreements were to break down over allegations of illegal subsidies, it could come with negative impacts on the American economy.

Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates, is once again speaking out against allegations that he and two other airlines illegally accepted money from their governments to grow, while issuing a warning that modifications to Open Skies agreements could harm the American economy. In an interview with Business Insider, Clark opened up on the three-year-old disagreement between America’s legacy carriers and the “Middle East Three” of Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways.

In his interview, Clark reverted back to 1999, when Open Skies agreements were set between the United States and the United Arab Emirates. At that time, the executive claims only two provisions were not negotiable: no flights between cities in the U.S. and “open and fair” competition.

“We treat ourselves like a publicly listed company. We’re not, we’re a private company,” Clark said in the interview. “The government of Dubai, which owns Emirates, doesn’t have to publish anything. But we publish everything to the sixth decimal place and we’re audited.”

In 2015, Emirates issued a report that directly addressed allegations from the legacy carriers, claiming their evidence proved no illegal subsidies were given to the carrier. Clark continues to stand behind his 2017 argument that the leadership of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines were “advancing their distorted math” to change the Open Skies agreements.

Furthermore, Clark warns that a change to Open Skies could have negative repercussions for the economy. Claiming that Boeing aircraft sales went up after the U.S. government entered Open Skies agreements, the executive warns a change could hurt their current stream of orders.

“I know that as a result of what they did, the number of planes Boeing sold went nuclear,” Clark told Business Insider. “Because the number of aircraft sold was a direct function of the Open Skies versus closed skies relationship.”

The Partnership for Open and Fair Skies, a consortium of U.S. legacy carriers and airline unions, have not directly responded to Clark’s claims. However, in a separate press release, the organization published letters from 10 state governors asking the White House to address the alleged Open Skies violations.

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