Delta: GAO Report Illustrates Need for Ex-Im Reform

ATLANTA, July 9, 2014 – Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today issued the following statement on the recent report by the Government Accountability Office on widebody aircraft financing by the U.S. Export-Import Bank:

“The GAO’s recent study illustrates why the Export-Import Bank is in need of reform: The Bank devotes too much of its funds to finance wide-body jets purchased by foreign competitors of U.S. airlines and supports too many foreign airlines that simply don’t need the help. As the GAO found, the Bank provides foreign airlines – many of which are owned by their host governments and can obtain financing on their own – with U.S. taxpayer funded subsidies totaling as much as $20 million per aircraft. That subsidy puts our own airline industry at a competitive disadvantage and it’s why Delta believes it’s now time to end the Bank’s practice of helping creditworthy, state-owned and -supported foreign carriers purchase wide-body aircraft at the expense of U.S. airlines and American jobs.”