Emirates Airline would welcome a partnership with a large U.S. airline, but alliance-related politics and a long-simmering but recently solved row over subsidies continue to present major hurdles, Emirates president Tim Clark suggested. Speaking to Aviation Week in an exclusive, virtual fireside chat June 2, Clark said that a deal with one of the “big three” U.S. carriers makes business sense.

Clark suggested that a similar arrangement with a large U.S. carrier that leverages major hubs such as Emirates’ Dubai base or a U.S. carrier’s large European operation, combined with U.S. domestic feed on one end and Emirates’ reach into Asia on the other, could offer similar benefits. But no such deals are in the works.

Part of the reason: a long-simmering debate over subsidies that pitted American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines against Middle Eastern titans Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways. In 2018, the U.S. signed separate deals with the Qatar and United Arab Emirates governments under which the Middle Eastern carriers voluntarily share more complete financial information. American and Qatar Airways followed up with a codeshare deal.

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