Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates airline and Group, defended the airline’s operations in the US, saying Emirates has supported over a million jobs in the country as American airlines seek to restrict Gulf carriers’ US operations.

In an interview with CNNMoney, Shaikh Ahmad said Emirates has invested over $140 billion in the US.

“We really want to create more jobs in the US and support the economy in the US. We carry nearly 4,000 people into the US every day, we invested $140 billion [Dh513.8 billion] and supported over a million people’s jobs,” he told CNNMoney.

His comments come just as US-based airlines met with President Donald Trump on Thursday to discuss growth strategies and potential tax cuts, with Trump being an adamant supporter of protectionism and so-called ‘America-first’ policies.

During the meeting, Trump told US airlines he would help them compete with foreign carriers that he said are subsidised by their governments, according to Bloomberg reports

source : gulfnews