WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) released the following statement on the Open Skies agreement reached with the United Arab Emirates today.

“Open Skies agreements are good for consumers and good for American workers. Today’s agreement takes important steps that will help enhance transparency and promote competition – but proper enforcement will also be necessary to ensure the benefits of this agreement are realized.  I’ll continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure U.S. airlines and workers have a level playing field on which to compete in the global market.”

Last year, Klobuchar led a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao expressing concerns regarding the billions of dollars in subsidies that the Governments of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have given their state-owned airlines, distorting the international air transport market and violating bilateral Open Skies agreements. In June 2015, Klobuchar also led a bipartisan group of 21 Senators to call on Secretary of State Kerry and Secretary of Transportation Foxx urging them to enforce Open Skies agreements.

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