American Airlines cuts codeshare with Qatar, Etihad

American Airlines is ending its codeshare agreements with both Etihad and Qatar Airways over an ongoing dispute regarding Gulf carriers’ alleged government support.

The airline, along with Delta and United, have long pushed for tighter regulation on the Gulf carriers’ services into the US, claiming they’ve received upward of $50 billion in government subsidies in the past 10 years.

The claims are firmly denied by all three of the major Gulf carriers, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

But there’s no love lost from American, who says it no longer makes sense to have codesharing agreements in light of the ongoing dispute, per the New York Times.

From June 29, American wants to “terminate” its codeshare relationships.

The airline said the move would have no impact on its financial figures, and “is an extension of our stance against the illegal subsidies that these carriers receive from their governments”.

The decision follows a bold gesture from Qatar to buy up to a 10 per cent stake in American Airlines, which AA’s CEO was not “particularly excited” about.

Per NYT, American Airlines said Qatar had filed a new notice of its intent to buy American shares, which is claims was “unsolicited”.

American Airlines full statement of the break-up reads:

“In light of our ongoing dispute over the Open Skies agreements, American Airlines notified Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways on June 29 of our decision to terminate our codeshare relationships.

“Given the extremely strong public stance that American has taken on the ME3 (Middle East 3) issue, we have reached the conclusion that the codesharing relationships between American and these carriers no longer make sense for us.

“This decision has no material financial impact on American and is an extension of our stance against the illegal subsidies that these carriers receive from their governments.

“We are committed to doing everything we can to continue to support our team members and ensure that there is fair competition between American and the Gulf carriers.”

Qatar’s CEO Akbar al Baker also landed in hot water this week for calling US airlines “crap” and comparing its own flight attendants – typically “26-year-old’s” – to the “grandmothers” of the US, which frankly we have no problem with. Who doesn’t love a grandmother?!

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