Dubai: Emirates hit out at Delta Air Lines on Tuesday over accusations that Gulf airlines are forcing the American carrier to cut capacity on the Dubai-Atlanta route this winter.

“Emirates rejects Delta’s comment that Gulf airlines have somehow impacted their ability to maintain daily service between Atlanta and Dubai,” an Emirates spokesperson told Gulf News by email.

Delta, the second largest US passenger airline, is firmly blaming the Gulf’s largest airlines, including Emirates, for it cutting its daily direct Atlanta-Dubai summer service down to between four and five flights a week from October.

“The reduction comes amid overcapacity on US routes to the Middle East operated by government-owned and subsidised airlines,” Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter told Reuters this week.

Emirates said Delta has “no head to head competition” as it is the only airline currently flying direct between Atlanta and Dubai. Emirates also pointed to US government data that Delta was filling on average 85 per cent of seats on the route, which it said “clearly indicates that consumer demand or overcapacity is not the issue”.

“It is of course Delta’s prerogative how they wish to allocate their fleet to routes, but their attempt to pin the blame on the “Gulf carrier threat” is plainly a political play, or a thin excuse to prop up fares at a higher level by limiting capacity,” the Emirates spokesperson said.

Delta, along with other major US carriers American and United, are leading a charge against the Gulf’s biggest carriers, Emirates Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, who they allege are abusing the US open skies agreement by us unfair state subsidies to dump capacity on flights to the country. The three US carriers are calling on the US government to freeze the airlines from further expanding into the country until a government-to-government review takes place.

The Gulf carriers deny the allegations, arguing they are winning over passengers with a better value for money proposition.

US passenger airline JetBlue and the air cargo division of FedEx recently came out in support Emirates, and the other Gulf carriers, arguing that the liberal open skies agreement is growing their businesses.

Emirates flies to nine US cities, including New York and Los Angeles, while Qatar Airways plans to launch Doha-Atlanta flights from July 2016.