IMMEDIATE RELEASE BY IFALPA, NEW ORLEANS, 16 APRIL 2016

NEW ORLEANS, USA – Following the US Department of Transportation’s tentative approval on Friday for Norwegian Air International (NAI) to fly to the United States, today the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) at its 71st Annual Conference has unanimously adopted the fol-lowing Conference Statement:

On behalf of the 100,000 pilots in 100 Member Associations, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations states its extreme disappointment in the decision of the U.S. Department of Transportation to tentatively approve the application of Norwegian Air International for a foreign air carrier permit.

NAI is a flag-of-convenience carrier that was established to undermine employ-ment standards. Despite the fact that the US – European Union Air Transport Agreement was designed to deter such business models from operating in the transatlantic market, the US and EU authorities propose to open the door to NAI.

We call on both, the US DOT as well as the European Commission, to reconsider this tentative decision and to either deny NAI’s application or require NAI to commit to assure that either full US or European employment standards are ap-plied to its employees.

For further information please contact Captain Martin Chalk, IFALPA President, at +44 7432 616 119 or martinchalk@ifalpa.org, or Ms. Anna Lou, IFALPA Communications & Marketing Coordinator, at +1 514 419 1191 or annalou@ifalpa.org.