Foreign Airlines Gain Share in Flying U.S. Travelers on Trips Abroad
Photo Credit: Emirates crew members get ready to greet a flight from Dubai in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on December 16, 2016. The Open Skies debate is heating up. Emirates
Skift Take
U.S. airlines made executive changes and product upgrades last year to improve performance. But this data will only encourage the Big Three legacy carriers to redouble efforts with the Trump administration to curb foreign airline expansion and reopen Open Skies agreements.
Foreign airlines increasingly take market share from U.S. airlines on their own turf, according to data released by the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office last week, as the Open Skies debate heats up.
Foreign airlines' passenger totals for flights to and from the U.S. were up nine percent in 2016 compared to U.S. airlines' two percent increase, according to the data.
More than 220 million people traveled to and from the U.S. last year, up six percent from 2015, but U.S. airlines carried less than half of that traffic.
Earlier this month, President Trump expressed support for revising U.S. policy on Open Skies agreements when he met with U.S. airline CEOs at the White House.
Qatar Airways, for example, saw its passenger traffic to and from the U.S. soar 46.5 percent last year while Emirates flew 3.5 million people to and from U.S. airports, a 15.4 percent increase over 2015.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer previously said the U.S. has a "huge economic inte
