AIRFREIGHT CARRIERS LOBBY AGAINST FEDEX/USPS MAIL CONTRACT

AIRFREIGHT CARRIERS LOBBY AGAINST FEDEX/USPS MAIL CONTRACT    Emery Worldwide, Evergreen International Aviation and Ryan International Airlines said that they will step up their opposition to the recent major contract between the U.S. Postal Service and Federal Express.
   In a joint statement, the three companies alleged that the deal will add to costs and give FedEx monopoly powers. The contract will replace the previous system of distributing USPS freight among several carriers.
      “Mail users, taxpayers and our companies will pay a high price for the fatally flawed contract between the Postal Service and FedEx,” they said. “The unprecedented contract is worth more than $6 billion over seven years. USPS prohibited competition in making FedEx the sole source carrier for the three types of mail most important to the general public,” they added.
      The joint statement was made by Jerry Trimarco, chief executive office of Emery Worldwide Airlines; Delford Smith, CEO of Evergreen International Aviation; and Ron Ryan, CEO of Ryan International Airlines.
   The airfreight carriers’ written testimony on the FedEx issue is being submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Government Reform Committee, in relation to a committee hearing on Wednesday (April 4).
   The carriers alleged that USPS “understated the expenses of the FedEx arrangement and ignored a proposal by a potential competitor that actually would have reduced costs.”
   The airfreight carriers said that, along with several other companies, they are petitioning the Justice Department to open a formal inquiry into the antitrust aspects of the transaction. “By granting FedEx control over air transportation, USPS is further narrowing what is already a concentrated industry,” they said.
   Referring to national security, the airfreight carriers alleged that the agreement threatens the existence
of a number of the regional airlines that participate in the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, the partnership program between the airfreight industry and the government that provides commercial aircraft to the military during an emergency.