Air France-KLM and Lufthansa take a stand against Norwegian Air International

NAI Scheme (ALPA)

Air France-KLM (Paris and Amsterdam) and Lufthansa (Frankfurt) and other interested parties have petitioned the European Commission on denying the application of Norwegian Air International (Dublin). ALPA (above) has also taken a strong stand against NAI.

The parties issued this open letter to the EC:

To: President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and First Vice-President Frans Timmermans

Cc: Commissioners Violeta Bulc and Marianne Thyssen

9.3 million jobs in danger!

We request a firm stance of the new European Commission against abuses of European social standards in the field of aviation!

A new airline has been established called “Norwegian Air International” that wants to offer scheduled services from the UK to the US. They have received an Irish license for this and they intend to employ crewmembers from Thailand that are hired through a Singaporean agency.

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 Euros to European GDP.

Your new Commission has chosen the strengthening of Europe’s competitiveness as its no. 1 priority and wants to give a stronger boost to jobs, growth and investment.

How can the Commission strengthen aviation’s competitiveness if it allows such abuses of European standards?

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. In the maritime sector we have already seen this same scenario play out, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs. It would be foolish to let the same happen to aviation. Therefore we need your support.

We count on you!

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.

If the European Commission is serious about its jobs and growth commitment, we deserve your support. 9.3 million aviation colleagues count on you.

 

Signed on November 21, 2014 by

Norwegian Petiition Signatures