US airlines' Gulf war may score some serious artillery

Sydney

AMERICAN airlines' assault on their Gulf rivals just stepped up a level. The big three US carriers have been on the rampage over the past 12 months, wielding the protectionist and law-and-order instincts of a new administration in Washington to roll back two decades of advances by their Gulf competitors.

While a laptop ban and travel restrictions targeted mostly at nations in the Middle East and Africa have largely been shrugged off, the most damaging blow could be yet to come.