dsee8driver
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2001
- Posts
- 364
Another congress screw job!
*** Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Saturday, April 10, 2004, Section C, Page C1 ***
Nation
The Pentagon is asking Congress for the authority to award contracts to foreign airlines to move troops and equipment, a practice that has always been limited to – and been lucrative for – American-based carriers.
The proposal, contained in the Defense Department’s budget request for fiscal year 2005, could have its greatest impact on the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, a group of 24 passenger and cargo carriers with which the Pentagon signs contracts each year. These airlines were instrumental in transporting military personnel and equipment to the Middle East last year before and during the Iraq war.
In all, American passenger and cargo carriers were paid $1.2 billion to fly nearly 500,000 troops to and from the war zone during the formal Iraq conflict. The cargo companies carried more than 161,000 tons of equipment, according to a Pentagon report last fall.
But they may not have a lock on the business for long. In its 2005 appropriations request, submitted last month, the Pentagon asked Congress to repeal a law that bars foreign-owned airlines from bidding on its contracts.
*** Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Saturday, April 10, 2004, Section C, Page C1 ***
Nation
The Pentagon is asking Congress for the authority to award contracts to foreign airlines to move troops and equipment, a practice that has always been limited to – and been lucrative for – American-based carriers.
The proposal, contained in the Defense Department’s budget request for fiscal year 2005, could have its greatest impact on the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, a group of 24 passenger and cargo carriers with which the Pentagon signs contracts each year. These airlines were instrumental in transporting military personnel and equipment to the Middle East last year before and during the Iraq war.
In all, American passenger and cargo carriers were paid $1.2 billion to fly nearly 500,000 troops to and from the war zone during the formal Iraq conflict. The cargo companies carried more than 161,000 tons of equipment, according to a Pentagon report last fall.
But they may not have a lock on the business for long. In its 2005 appropriations request, submitted last month, the Pentagon asked Congress to repeal a law that bars foreign-owned airlines from bidding on its contracts.