In an open letter, Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Lufthansa, as well as several European pilots’ and cabin crew unions, have written to the European Commission (EC) jointly opposing plans by Norwegian Air International (NAI), a subsidiary of low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle, to start transatlantic operations. The airlines claim NAI’s intention to use Thai personnel based in Ireland is an illegal attempt to circumvent expensive Norwegian employment legislation – a charge denied by NAI.
The letter states: “Competition in aviation is intense and it keeps us sharp. However, through business models like this we risk entering a downward spiral to the social bottom, risking thousands of qualified European jobs. European aviation currently provides 9.3 million jobs and adds €512 billion ($638 billion) to European GDP.
“If we allow Norwegian Air International to start employing Thai crew on the EU-US routes, others will soon follow and jobs will be lost inside the European Union and created elsewhere. The US has temporarily denied Norwegian Air International’s request for a foreign carrier permit. The European Commission should now take a strong stance and prevent Norwegian Air International from abusing European social standards and legislation through employing Thai crew. We need to preserve European jobs instead of outsourcing them to other continents.”