Emirates Awarded City Pair Under Fly America Act
The General Services Administration (GSA), responsible for awarding government contracts on city-pairs under the Fly America Act, has designated Emirates, code-sharing with JetBlue, as the sole carrier of traffic between Washington, DC and Dubai, UAE. As a result of this awarded, United, which previously served 15,000 passengers a year under this contract, is pulling out the market entirely ? leaving zero U.S. carriers flying between the U.S. and the UAE.
The Fly America Act requires passengers whose travel is being paid for by the federal government to travel on U.S. airlines. The GSA has interpreted the Act to allow airlines to service these routes via their codeshare partners. In the case of the IAD-DXB route, JetBlue Airlines has placed their code on Emirates? daily flight, essentially functioning as Emirates? ticket agent for the route. The contract for the route was awarded on non-stop basis; as JetBlue does not currently own any aircraft capable of servicing the more than 7,000 mile distance between IAD and DXB, no JetBlue planes or JetBlue pilots will be used to fulfill this contract ? only Emirates.
While this decision demonstrates the need for clarification of the Fly America Act, it also underscores ALPA?s position that subsidized competition from the Middle East is unfairly eroding our international market share. Emirates bid $699 each way between IAD and DXB, whereas United had previously charged the U.S. government $979. Emirates is only able to offer such a price point because it loses money on this route and need not show a profit anywhere. ALPA is working diligently to convince the U.S. government to open consultations with the UAE and Qatar to end this unfair competition, level the playing field in international aviation, and protect the U.S. airline industry.