Originally Posted by Timbo

The highlights from that article for those of you too lazy to click on the link, read that last paragraph, twice!:

On the Milan-New York flight, Emirates will compete with three airlines: Alitalia, American and Delta, in addition to United, which flies Milan-Newark. The Dubai-Milan-New York route is made possible by a bilateral treaty between the United Arab Emirates and Italy, and by Italian regulators' agreement to grant Emirates "an extra-bilateral right," to fly the Milan-New York segment, despite objections by Alitalia.

Emirates has various advantages in competing with U.S. carriers. For one, it is backed not only by the Dubai government, its wealthy owner, but also by the U.S. government, which helps Emirates buy Boeing aircraft with below-market interest rates provided by the Ex-Im Bank. Emirates pays less for Boeing airplanes than U.S. airlines pay, then competes with U.S. airlines for passengers, according to a suit filed by Delta, Hawaiian and the Air Line Pilots Association.

Additionally, the U.S. government has been prone to sign aviation treaties benefiting airlines in other countries more than they benefit U.S. airlines. Aviation consultant Robert Mann said: "For years, we've had an open skies policy that trades away access to the U.S. market for what amounts to nothing, in most cases, because we sign treaties with anyone who gives us open skies, even places with no internal traffic. Now, a couple of fast-growing carriers are maximizing their take, due to open skies."

The combination of open skies treaties, Ex-Im financing, high airline taxation and the approval of three mergers followed by rejection of a fourth shows that "we lack a coordinated air transportation policy," Mann said. "In some cases there is no evidence of any policy, and in other areas there is evidence of a lack of a coordinated policy."

And that's why I hate our Politicians.