Europeans for Fair Competition Coalition Formed:  Coalition is working to raise awareness around market distortion and job loss resulting from illegal state-aid to 3 Middle Eastern airlines.

VNV Dutch AirLinePilotsAssociation announces its full support for Europeans for Fair Competition (E4FC). E4FC is a coalition of European citizens, organizations and labour unions working together to raise awareness about the illegal aviation subsidies provided to the state-owned airlines of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. These subsidies are distorting the marketplace in Europe, harming economic development within Europe, and pose a threat to EU jobs and the larger EU economy.   

In February 2015, forensic accounting research revealed that the state-aid provided to Emirates, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways (ME3) by their government owners had reached more than €39 billion. These subsidies and unfair benefits have resulted in growth and capacity dumping across Europe at the detriment of European airlines, and are in violation of the air transport agreements these nations hold with countries both in Europe and around the world. 

E4FC aims to end the United Arab Emirates’ and the State of Qatar’s violations of the air service agreements they hold that grant them access to European skies, and to restore balance to the aviation marketplace. 

VNV-Dutch ALPA is convinced other European organizations will also support and join the “E4FC” coalition shortly. “It’s imperative that we, collectively, convince the European Commission that strong action is needed in order to preserve hundreds of thousands of European jobs in aviation. Without doing anything we will simply be wiped out by the massively growing ME3 with sheer infinite financial resources from their respective states. This action should result in strong fair competition clauses and meaningful enforcement thereof in Air Services Agreements with the Gulf States. The upcoming EU mandate discussions are a perfect opportunity”, says Steven Verhagen, president of VNV-Dutch ALPA.

More information can be found on the E4FC website http://e4fc.eu. Here the subsidy violations being perpetuated by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are outlined, and a detailed explanation of the negative impact these subsidies are having across the globe is provided. Supporters can also find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/faircompetitionEU and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/competitioneu.