Boeing has hit back at veiled claims from the US Air Transport Association that it was providing aid to non-US airlines via Exim financing to the detriment of US carriers.
In May the ATA sent a long letter to senior US government officials, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that criticised the heavy use of export finance from the US Export-Import Bank by non-US airlines to purchase Boeing aircraft. The Exim loans, the ATA refers to as subsidies that were contributing to excess airline capacity, "causing direct and substantial competitive harm to US airlines," and requested they be sharply curtailed.
The response from Boeing, printed in The Wall Street Journal, stated that the "ATA's claims are without merit," and the proposal to cut US export subsidies "would seriously jeopardize the US aerospace industry's ability to compete" internationally. The manufacturer said that its production was driven by passenger demand, not government credits.