From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   Banned From Russian Airspace, U.S. Airlines Look to Restrict Competitors   
   By Kate Kelly and Mark Walker, March 17, 2023, NY Times   
      
   WASHINGTON — Unable to fly through Russian airspace because of the war in   
   Ukraine, U.S. airlines are stepping up a lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill and   
   at the White House to address what they say is a growing problem: They are   
   losing business to    
   foreign competitors who can take passengers between the United States and Asia   
   faster and more cheaply.   
      
   Effectively banned from the polar routes that save time and fuel between the   
   US and an array of destinations on the other side of the world, U.S. carriers   
   say they are being forced into an aeronautical version of Twister to get   
   passengers where they want    
   to go without taking undue risks.   
      
   They have altered trans-Pacific flight plans to ensure they would have   
   somewhere to land in an emergency, reduced passenger and cargo loads to hold   
   down costs as they fly longer distances, and put on hold more than a dozen   
   planned new routes to Mumbai,    
   Tokyo, Seoul and other cities.   
      
   On its route from New Delhi to New York City, American Airlines has been   
   forced to stop flights in Bangor, Maine — an hour and a half short of the   
   mark — on 19 occasions, a person familiar with the recent history said.   
   Those stops, which were    
   typically caused by unfavorable winds or weather that depleted the jet fuel   
   supply and ran out the flight crew’s duty hours, delayed passengers and   
   forced a swap-out of 14 pilots and flight attendants.   
      
   Those flights were already operating with dozens of the seats deliberately   
   left unfilled, the person added, because less weight on board was required to   
   make the fuel last as long as possible.   
      
   Yet many foreign airlines are not banned from flying over Russia, U.S.   
   airlines and their lobbyists say — and are winning more passengers on routes   
   to and from the United States as a result. Continued access to the shorter and   
   more fuel-efficient    
   routes that Russian airspace provides is giving carriers like Air India,   
   Emirates and China Eastern Airlines an unfair advantage, the industry lobbying   
   group Airlines for America said in a recent presentation on Capitol Hill.   
      
   Airlines for America estimated the lost annual market share of U.S. carriers   
   at a collective $2 billion per year.   
      
   “Foreign airlines using Russian airspace on flights to and from the U.S. are   
   gaining a significant competitive advantage over U.S. carriers in major   
   markets, including China and India,” the presentation, dated February, said.   
   “This situation is    
   directly to the benefit of foreign airlines and at the expense of the United   
   States as a whole, with fewer connections to key markets, fewer high paying   
   airline jobs” and a dent in the overall economy.   
      
   U.S. airlines for years had access to Russian airspace through a series of   
   agreements with Moscow. In exchange for that access, they — and other   
   foreign airlines — paid fees to the Russian government for air traffic   
   control support that amounted to    
   hundreds of millions of dollars per year, according to an airline official and   
   an industry advocate.   
      
   But after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year prompted govt officials in   
   the US, Britain, Canada and Europe to ban Russian aircraft from flying over   
   their airspace, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia immediately prohibited   
   the United States and    
   other supporters of Ukraine, including Canada and much of Europe, from flying   
   through his skies.   
      
   Now airlines are pressing the White House and Congress to fix the problem by   
   subjecting foreign carriers from nations not already banned from Russian   
   airspace to the same restrictions applied to U.S. airlines, effectively   
   forcing them to fly the same    
   routes as their American competitors.   
      
   The Biden admin should “take action to ensure that foreign carriers   
   overflying Russia do not depart, land or transit through U.S. airports,”   
   said Marli Collier, an Airlines for America spokeswoman.   
      
   The proposal appears to have gained traction with the Transportation Dept,   
   which recently drafted an order that would ban Chinese carriers that fly   
   passengers to the United States from flying through Russian airspace,   
   according to three people who were    
   briefed on the order. The order was presented to a group of Biden   
   administration officials, including members of the national security team, on   
   Monday, two of those people said, and has been under consideration this week   
   along with other proposed policy    
   measures.   
      
   Transportation Dept officials declined to comment. But national security   
   officials are mindful of the potential diplomatic consequences of steps aimed   
   at a longtime ally like India, or of adding further tension to the already   
   strained relationship with    
   China.   
      
   A spokesperson at the State Dept, which is involved in an interagency govt   
   review of the airspace issues, said the department was aware of the concerns   
   and regards the safety of U.S. citizens on foreign soil as a top priority.   
      
   “It’s just unfortunate for our air carriers that this has been a   
   collateral issue,” said Manisha Singh, a former assistant secretary for the   
   bureau of economic and business affairs at the State Department who now runs a   
   consulting firm in    
   Washington. “I think we should do anything we can,” she added, noting that   
   the United States should “be careful” before taking steps that might   
   offend foreign countries and affect U.S. tourism and commerce as a result.   
      
   Representatives for Delta, American, and United Airlines, the domestic   
   carriers most involved in the lobbying effort, referred questions to Airlines   
   for America, which praised a recent letter by Senate Foreign Relations   
   Committee members to Secretary of    
   State Antony J. Blinken and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg echoing   
   the group’s talking points.   
      
   “When foreign airlines overfly Russian territory, even if they do not expect   
   to land on Russian soil, they run the risk of unplanned diversions in Russia   
   for safety, medical, mechanical or more nefarious reasons,” wrote Senator   
   Bob Menendez, Democrat    
   of New Jersey, the panel’s chairman, and Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, its   
   senior Republican. The State and Transportation Departments have not yet   
   responded to the letter, according to someone who has been briefed on the   
   exchange.   
      
      
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