Open Skies Battle With Gulf Carriers Moves South of the Border

Planned Emirates service between Spain and Mexico has Aeroméxico officials sounding a lot like their counterparts at legacy carriers in the U.S.

For nearly a decade now, U.S. airline executives haven’t missed many opportunities to sound the alarm on what they believe to be unfair trade practices by Gulf carriers including Emirates, Qatar and Etihad. At times, this insistence that Gulf state airlines receive huge subsidies from their governments has deteriorated into insults and personal attacks, but the underlying message from the Legacy carriers has long been that it’s impossible to compete against rivals with access to seemingly bottomless state-funded coffers.

The Gulf Carriers themselves have dismissed these complaints as a blatant call for protectionism and vehemently denied that the airlines are propped up with government money. Qatar CEO Akbar Al Baker, who once famously threatened to hang a U.S. airline executive on a wall, has taken these suggestions of unfair trade practices to heart, especially after one particular airline chief publicly suggested that the governments subsidizing Gulf carriers may have had a hand in the terror attacks of September 11.

“He has in my opinion a weak personality,” al Baker said of then-Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson. “And he is only hiding behind all this nonsense, misleading his government in a big way.”

Now, this war of words with the Gulf airlines appears to have spread to Mexico as well as the U.S. In this case, however, at least one prominent government official has sided with Emirates rather than Mexico’s flag carrier Aeroméxico.

The controversy stems from plans by Emirates to introduce service connecting Barcelona–El Prat Airport (BCN) and Mexico City International Airport (MEX). The service would be permitted under a so-called “fifth freedom agreement” that allows carriers to operate flights between two foreign countries so long as those flights originate in the airline’s home country.

Airline officials in Mexico are sounding an alarm that should sound very familiar to aviation industry insiders in the U.S. Thankfully, the contentious debate raging in Mexico so far has a decidedly more civil tone.

“We are going to look at all the legal mechanisms that are within our reach,” Aeroméxico CEO Andres Conesa said in public comments this week. “We are going to give battle. This could affect connectivity. If they sell subsidized tickets, they will force us out of the market. If they force us out and we aren’t competitive with our flights to Europe, we will have to reduce our offerings.”

According to the Arabian Business, however, government officials don’t sound especially eager to stymie Emirates’s latest transatlantic plans. Regulators say regular passenger service could begin by as early as this fall.

“We can’t say no to a new opportunity for connectivity to the country,” Mexico Tourism Minister Enrique de la Madrid told the magazine. “If a Barcelona-Mexico service is required, one must look to see who can provide it. Aeromexico probably won’t open this route, but it can open another or increase frequency some place. It’s outstanding that the country can benefit double from this. We will have a route from Barcelona, and it’s good news for our tourism.”

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