United Airlines

There is one daily flight between Belfast and Newark airport. It is offered by United Airlines. United has told the Northern Ireland government that it is losing money on the flight. To keep it from pulling out, NI offered a 9 million pound, three-year package. One year into the package, United announced it is leaving. The European Commission, which has strict rules governing business subsidies, ruled that the package was illegal, prompting United to cancel the service.

People here are up in arms. The Brexit voters said this is why they voted to leave--they don’t want Brussels meddling in the British economy. I have a different take. The reason United can make more in the US than here is because US carriers enjoy monopolistic pricing due to excessive mergers. There are many many airlines in Europe and the price to fly anywhere is very cheap. Not so in the US, where prices go up with every merger.

So United is extorting money from Northern Ireland taxpayers because it doesn’t want to compete in a system that isn’t rigged. Brexiters who don’t like it should realise that cheap flights to Spain and Portugal are the other side of the European Commission coming down on taxpayer bribes.
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