Delta Air Lines Shrinks Dubai Service

Delta Air Lines will reduce the number of flights to Dubai from its Atlanta hub starting October 1 as part of a Middle East capacity cut.

The airline will fly between four and five times per week, down from daily service this summer.

Delta revised its schedule as part of a broader 15-to-20 percent cut in capacity to the Middle East and Africa that Delta announced in April.

"The reduction comes amid overcapacity on US routes to the Middle East operated by government-owned and subsidised airlines," a Delta spokesman said in a statement, noting that daily service would return in the spring of 2016.

Delta said months ago that its international capacity cuts were in response to falling crude prices hitting demand in oil-rich markets and to the strong US dollar that has hurt the spending power of foreign travellers.

The latest news underscores a trade row that is rippling through Washington.

US unions and airlines, led by Delta, charge that Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways have received USD$42 billion in subsidies from their home governments in the past decade. They say this has allowed the Gulf carriers to dump capacity into the United States, driving down prices and pushing out competitors.

The Gulf carriers have denied that they are subsidised and say poor customer service has caused US airlines to lose market share.

Other US carriers such as JetBlue and the air cargo unit of FedEx have backed the Gulf airlines, saying that government action would signal an abandonment of the United States' liberal trade policy in favour of protectionism.

The Obama administration is currently reviewing the issue.

Delta is the only airline that flies between Atlanta and Dubai. Its service reduction will leave the Washington-Dubai flights on United as the only remaining daily nonstop on a US carrier this winter.

Emirates operates a freighter service to Atlanta and currently flies passengers to nine US cities from Dubai, with plans to add more.

Qatar Airways will launch Atlanta-Doha flights in July 2016.