Emirates rejects Delta's apology over 9/11 comments

New York

AN increasingly bitter trade row between US and Gulf airlines deepened when Dubai's Emirates rejected a Delta Air Lines apology for remarks perceived as linking Gulf carriers with the Sept 11 attacks on the US in 2001.

Relations have deteriorated since a group of US airlines compiled a dossier claiming that major Gulf carriers had received US$40 billion in subsidies and urged the US government to renegotiate or scrap an Open Skies trade pact.