Air France-KLM and Lufthansa are urging the EU to follow the USlead and ban rivals transiting Russia to counter competitive disadvantage on Asia routes.
European carriers fly longer paths since Russia closed airspace in 2022 while Chinese airlines use shorter routes.
CEOs support US DOT proposal to bar Chinese carriers from US airspace if they use Russian routes.
They criticise the EU-Qatar agreement which they say is leading to capacity dumping and are calling for reciprocal rules on taxes and SAF mandates.
Over 50pc of Europe air traffic now operates by foreign airlines affecting 12m jobs.
Benjamin Smith shared “Customers do not necessarily want to spend two extra hours on an already long flight to Asia. We’re not asking for subsidies. We’re asking to be less hindered.”
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