The European Commission should address the issue of alleged subsidies to Arabian Gulf airlines in talks with their governments as European airlines continue to complain about unfair competition from their GCC rivals, the German transport minister said yesterday.
Germany and France have asked the European Commission to take up bilateral negotiations with Gulf countries on any future aviation agreements rather than allowing individual European states to sign deals, said Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s minister of transport and digital infrastructure.
"It is now the responsibility of the commission of the European Union in negotiations with the Gulf countries to clarify these [subsidies] issues," he told The National at a transport forum in Leipzig, Germany.
Air France-KLM and Germany's Lufthansa in December wrote a letter to the EU transport commissioner to address alleged government aid to Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways. Gulf airlines have vehemently denied taking any subsidies.
“What has been spelt out on a European level is that there is a strong interest in fair competition, and this fair competition means that opportunities of Gulf airlines and European airlines need to be distributed evenly,” said Mr Dobrindt, describing the talks between EU and Gulf states as “complicated”.
The European Commission said in March it would address French and German concerns over what they regard as unfair subsidies to Gulf carriers when it proposes a commercial aviation agreement with the region later this year.
However, Germany is also holding talks with the UAE over aviation issues, including codeshare agreements, which affect Germany's second-biggest carrier, airberlin, in which Etihad has a 29 per cent stake.
“We are holding talks with the UAE at the working level, and up to now there has been no results of these talks,” said Mr Dobrindt.
“The talks are on our bilateral aviation agreement and all the agreements that exist right now. This will also include the codeshare issue with airberlin.”
dalsaadi@thenational.ae
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