Cabotage in the US

[UpNDownGuy]

Is it just me, or does the US government just absolutely hate US airlines, and all those that work at them?




Reuters
US says it wants comprehensive air deal with EU
Monday September 29, 12:21 pm ET


BRUSSELS, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The United States is willing to discuss all aspects of aviation rules with the European Union (News - Websites) and will not try to restrict the agenda of transatlantic talks that start this week, its chief negotiator said on Monday.
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Both Brussels and Washington want a new civil aviation treaty, but EU airlines fear the United States will try to limit the deal to liberalising international flying rights and not address issues of ownership and EU access to the U.S. market.

The State Department's John Byerly said the main U.S. aim was to extend its liberal "open skies" airline routing system to the whole EU, but it was open to at least discuss tougher issues such as letting EU carriers fly on domestic U.S. routes.

"As a central U.S. objective we will aim to expand open skies to all of Europe. We are open to additional ideas, however, and will discuss constructively models, proposals from the EU that go beyond our open skies model."

"A U.S.-EU agreement has the potential to alter fundamentally the framework for transatlantic and global aviation," Byerly told reporters in Brussels via a video link from Washington where the talks will start on Wednesday.

Byerly had previously said Washington favoured a stepped approach to the talks, with a quick preliminary deal on the easiest elements. He told reporters that might still happen, but he favoured a comprehensive deal as soon as possible.

Major airlines attending the talks as part of the EU delegation, including British Airways (London:BAY.L - News), Lufthansa (XETRA:LHAG.DE - News) and Air France (Paris:AIRF.PA - News), are pushing policy makers to get much more than a deal on take-off and landing rights.

They also want the U.S. to allow EU carriers to perform "cabotage", domestic services within the U.S., and to reduce its restrictions on foreign ownership of U.S. airlines, currently limited to a maximum of 25 percent of voting stock.

Byerly said these issues would be on the table, although they were problematic for U.S. interests, not least on grounds of national security.

"Whether we can normalise the special sector of aviation in the way that, say, the special sector of automobiles or the production of corn syrup is handled, we'll have to see," he said.

As part of any deal, Washington would demand free access for its airlines to all EU airports, including London Heathrow, where currently only two U.S. airlines, AMR American Airways (NYSE:AMR - News) and UAL Corp's (OTC BB:UALAQ.OB - News) United Airlines, can fly.

It would also push for "balanced" environmental restrictions at vital EU airports, especially on the issue of night flights, which are essential for express freight carriers, and for fair access to takeoff and landing slots at congested European hubs.

 

[VADriver]

Big Business and the advocates for unristricted free markets want to open up the airline industry to foriegn ownership and cabatoge.....what does that mean?

You can get an idea from the maritime industry and the merchant marines.... Just ask one next time you are in a port city.....

 

[mach none]

Write your congressmen and senators. If you don't think this is a big deal, you are very mistaken. Just imagine, your dream job will now be performed by some guy from Lan Chile or air france. Because the US carriers would not have to hire us anymore. Look where United is going with the Star Alliance. Can you say virtual airline.

And do you really think the Europeans will hire us?

 

[bolterbolter]

Cabotage would wipe out this industry in a heart-beat. Employ Polish, Mexican, Chilean, Russian pilots...We would be toast tomorrow.

Cabotage by far is the single greatest threat to this industry.

Flying for an international airline right now, its what keeps me up at night; especially when you see things like Air France-KLM.

Star, One World, Skyteam-if rules get lifted, they are one airline. Guess where they will start hiring to expand their business from. Not the USA. It'll make the American-American Eagle, Delta-Comair struggles look like a joke.

 

[bolterbolter]

One other thing though, now that Airliners are Weapons of Mass Destruction, its going to be pretty hard to the USA buy off on having foreign pilots having free reign all over the US. It'd be a security nightmare. I see that as the only limiting factor to cabotage.

 

[teedub]

what did we expect

Deregulation
NAFTA
Change of forgien ownership rule to 49% (soon to come)

all three leading to the destruction of "protected" american pilot jobs.....or living wage at best....

its the reality of capitalism.......the only natural inevitability for the airline industry driven and controlled by such an economic system....seeking lowest "costs"....

solution!!
some one/people who will protect the industry in the white house/ on capitol hill.....

reality!!
watch it slide baby, watch it slide!!......

 

[FoxHunter]

Cabotage would be great for companies like FedEx and UPS. Service between Belfast and London, Berlin and Frankfurt, Milan and Rome, Paris and Nice. Just grows the market.

 

[General Lee]

Foxhunter,

It is doubtful that the individual countries would allow that, take France for example. They have the French Post----which has it's own 737-300's and 200's, and they fly all over France each night. A Fedex or UPS entry would ruin them. The German Post probably has the same, and in Britian they have Chanex---which provides a lot of the nightly service. I just can't see that happening, just like the cabotage issue in the US. I have read that John McCain once said that he didn't care if Aeroflot flew between LA and Vegas, as long as the customers got the best deals. That has all changed sice 9-11. It is now a National Security issue according to another board, and that makes sense. Because of that, the percentage of ownership will stay below the original amount, and the pilots etc. will be American citizens.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[Singlecoil]

The German Post Office, Deutsche Post, recently bought DHL and their fleet of aircraft. They've been given enough grief by lawsuits in the US filed by UPS and FedEx that I doubt they would lay down and let US carriers run all over them in their back yard.
DHL Airways, the airplanes that were crewed by Americans and flew in the US, was sold and spun off into Astar Air Cargo.

Since we are on the cabotage subject, check out this article in today's Anchorage Daily News: click here



A China Airlines pilot was prevented from taking command of a passenger flight when he was stopped by an airport screener who smelled alcohol. He then failed a breath test.

The pilot, whose name has not been made public, was stopped before boarding the Anchorage-to-New York flight about 10 a.m. Thursday.

The aircraft was an Airbus 340, a wide-body, long-range jet that can carry 295 to 380 passengers, depending on its configuration.

John Madden, Transportation Safety Administration deputy security director, said Monday that while processing a member of the air crew for security, a screener smelled alcohol and suspected that the person might be under the influence.

The screeners called airport police.

Jennifer Payne, spokeswoman for Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, said airport police administered a breath test to the pilot that showed a blood alcohol level of 0.087 percent. Police turned the matter over to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The legal limit for driving in Alaska is 0.08 percent. According to the FAA's Web site, no pilot may operate an aircraft while under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol level of 0.04 percent or greater. Also, pilots are banned from drinking eight hours before a flight.

The pilot was identified as the first pilot, or captain, of the flight, said FAA spokeswoman Joette Storm. The China Airlines station manager immediately suspended him from flying, she said, and the jet departed from Anchorage.

She did not know whether the pilot was returning to the cockpit after a stopover or whether he was part of a crew change made in Anchorage.

"The air carrier will have to answer that," she said.

China Airlines offices in Anchorage and Los Angeles had closed Monday night, and company officials could not be reached for comment.

The flight number and the total number of passengers aboard were not immediately available Monday night.

Storm also did not know whether the pilot left Anchorage afterward.

Storm said the TSA screeners also found an open container of alcohol on the pilot.

The FAA will investigate but is not likely to take action against the pilot.

"He would come under whatever the aviation authority in China is," Storm said.

The pilot does not hold a U.S. airman certificate.

"We can't take a certificate that we haven't given out," she said.

Instead, the FAA will forward its report to the governing body in China.

Storm said the FAA's San Francisco office oversees China Airlines. That office could end up discussing weaknesses in its procedures for keeping impaired pilots out of their aircraft.

"It's not likely that we will take action against the carrier," she said.

 

[VADriver]

The mobilization of the US Airline Industry at the start of WWII was instrumental in moving cargo/personnel and training aviators for increased US flying actvity worldwide....