No one wants a whole industry fighting them. Unfortunately, that is just what is happening to the Export Import Bank. Apparently, the US airline industry is going to sue this bank for the financial support that it is giving to Air India. According to the airline industry in the US, this support is going to harm American airlines.

This complaint was filed before a US court just last Friday. Reports suggest that the Air Transport Association of America, Air Line Pilots Association International and Delta Air Lines have alleged that the Export Import Bank’s decision to provide a loan guarantee of $3.4 billion to Air India would badly affect several US airlines. Delta said that it would affect them, in particular. The money the bank is going to give to Air India is going to be used to buy 30 Boeing aircraft.

The complaint said that the bank’s support for foreign carriers puts Air Transport Association members, including Delta, at a disadvantage. This is because the bank’s foreign beneficiaries have access to cheaper capital to finance their aircraft purchases, among other things.

They went on to say that the guarantees made by the bank allow Air India to flood the US-India market with extra capacity and crowd out competitors. The courts should not have to be reminded that Delta stopped flying from New York to Mumbai back in October of 2008 due to the bank’s loan guarantees to Air India. This kind of thing can simply not be allowed. Something has to be done to prevent US airlines from being overran.