NPC Luncheon with Airline CEOs

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The leaders of the nation's three largest airlines explored what they call unfair international competition at a National Press Club luncheon on Friday, May 15. Richard Anderson, Delta Air Lines chief executive, W. Douglas Parker, chairman and chief executive of American Airlines Group, and Jeff Smisek, chairman, president and chief executive of United Airlines, made a joint appearance at the Club entitled “Restoring Fair Competition to the Skies.” They argued that billions of dollars of subsidies from the governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to their domestic airlines give them an unfair advantage and threatening U.S. jobs. The three airlines are part of a coalition called the Partnership for Open & Fair Skies, which also includes several airline unions.