Emirates chief sees scant benefit from EU-level aviation deals

Brussels

THE chief of Dubai-based airline Emirates expressed doubts on Monday that a European Union (EU)-level aviation agreement with the United Arab Emirates would improve on the existing deals the Gulf country has with most EU countries.

In June, European member states gave the executive European Commission a mandate to pursue air traffic agreements with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Turkey and countries in South-east Asia to try to support the European aviation sector.

Such agreements, now often done on a bilateral basis by individual governments, would set out where and how often foreign airlines could fly into the EU and vice versa. But the initiative has been eyed with suspicion by Gulf carriers such as Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, which have faced accusations of receiving unfair state subsidies from European legacy airlines, notably Lufthansa and Air France KLM, as well as major US ones. The Gulf airlines have firmly rejected …