Emirates have rejected an apology issued by Delta Air Lines over comments made by its CEO associating Gulf carriers and the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Both Qatar and Emirates were stirred by the comments made by Delta ceo Richard Anderson this week, ignited following a report by a number of US airlines claiming major Gulf carriers had received US$40 billion in subsidies and wanted the US government to renegotiate or retract its open skies trade pact between the two nations.
The Gulf carriers rejected the claims, saying the US-based airlines were the ones to have benefited from US$5 billion in government support following the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
When questioned about the counter-claims, Anderson told CNN:
“It’s a great irony to have the United Arab Emirates from the Arabian Peninsula talk about that, given the fact that our industry was really shocked by the terrorism of 9/11, which came from terrorists from the Arabian Peninsula”.
Following the incident, which according to Reuters infuriated officials in the UAE and Qatar, Delta said that Anderson “had been responding to claims that the post-9/11 payments to US airlines amounted to subsidies”.
“He didn’t mean to suggest the Gulf carriers or their governments are linked to the 9/11 terrorists. We apologise if anyone was offended,” Delta said in an emailed statement.
However, in another statement issued soon after Monday’s CNN interview with Anderson, Delta made suggestions Gulf carriers benefited from the weak travel period in the aftermath of 9/11: “The Middle East carriers, meanwhile, capitalised on that difficult time in the industry’s history to begin in earnest an unfettered expansion that was largely paid for with subsidies from their governments,” Delta stated, but then later removed the sentence in a revised statement, as per skift’s report.
Despite the two Delta statements, the apology has fallen on deaf ears with Emirates, with the carrier issuing its own statement yesterday.
“Emirates rejects the apology issued by Delta Air Lines in response to comments made by its CEO on Monday 16th February which intimated a link between the Gulf carriers and the 9/11 attacks. We believe that the statements made this week by Mr. Anderson were deliberately crafted and delivered for specific effect. This brings into question his credibility as a CEO of a US public listed company, as well as the integrity of the submission which his airline has submitted to the US authorities.”
The report by the US carriers, as per Reuters, claim they have lost significant bookings since 2008 because of stiff competition by Gulf carriers and claim they have been supplied aid, including cheap airport fees.
However, Emirates ceo Tim Clark said on CNN: “We have not had the benefit or courtesy of being supplied with this report … I would have thought if these airlines were going to make allegations the least they could have done is to supply us with that report.”
Earlier in the interview Clark said: “I’m not angry. I’m a little bit concerned that Mr. Anderson crossed the line with what he said in regard to 9/11, which has caused great offense in this part of the world”, adding later, “I wonder if Mr. Anderson thought of the feelings of his SkyTeam partners at Saudia”.
