By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on March 08, 2017 at 1:23 PM, updated March 08, 2017 at 4:43 PM
WASHINGTON — Emirates Airline, owned by the United Arab Emirates, is about to launch flights between Newark Liberty International Airport and Athens.
Members of the New Jersey and New York congressional delegations want to block them.
The reason? They say Emirates and two other non-union Middle Eastern airlines, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways have gotten $50 billion in government subsidies in violation of the Open Skies agreements removing limits on international flights to and from the U.S.
“While we support expanding flight options and greater connectivity, we do not support subsidy-enabled flights that cost American jobs and could violate U.S. trade agreements,” a bipartisan group of 25 New Jersey and New York lawmakers wrote to President Donald Trump in advance of Emirates’ maiden flight on Saturday.
