Emirates (EK, Dubai International) could be forced to suspend its Milan Malpensa to New York JFK flights after an Italian court agreed with Assaereo, an association that represents Alitalia (AZA, Rome Fiumicino) and other Italian airlines, that the route violated Italy's bilateral air-service agreement with the United Arab Emirates.
In its judgement, a Rome administrative court ruled that the Italian civil aviation authority (Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile - ENAC) had erred in giving Emirates the right to use Milan as a stopover. Such traffic rights, it said, could not be granted to a non-EU operator or a carrier from a country which is neither the port of departure nor destination, which in this case is Italy and the United States.
Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) welcomed the ruling claiming Emirates' route provides "no additional benefit for travellers, and could significantly harm U.S. and Italian airline employees by adding unneeded capacity on an already-competitive market."
Emirates, which started the route in October last year, is considering lodging an "urgent appeal" with Italy's Supreme Administrative Court.
It is currently uncertain as to whether or not the carrier will have to terminate the flights.
