The ups and downs of reaching an 'understanding' between the US and Gulf airlines

This week has seen much confusion over the details of the agreement between the US and the UAE carriers.

After an initial White House briefing suggested there was a “routes freeze”, it now states that there is “an understanding” that Emirates and Etihad have no current plans to add fifth freedom rights – although they are entitled to do so under the Open Skies agreement.

The twists and turns of the story have been well reported by ATW, which also notes that ...