Bart Jansen

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The House approved legislation Tuesday to prevent a Norwegian airline from flying to the USA because of concerns the low-cost carrier will dodge international labor rules.

The House transportation funding bill must be reconciled with the Senate before becoming law. The White House earlier announced it "strongly opposes" the legislation, for reasons other than the airline debate.

But an amendment added late Monday by voice vote from Reps. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., and Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., seeks to prevent the Transportation Department from granting approval of Norwegian Air International to serve the USA.

Rival U.S. airlines and the Air Line Pilots Association, a union representing 50,000 pilots, criticize the Norwegian proposal because it would operate under a certificate from Ireland, where it doesn't fly, and hire Thai workers from Singapore at rates lower than are competitive in the USA and Europe.

"Congress has a responsibility to make sure that U.S. airlines do business in a fair marketplace and that the U.S. government's transportation funds don't hand an advantage to foreign airlines that try to cheat the system," said Capt. Lee Moak, president of the pilots union.

The proposal deals with a proposed subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle, a low-cost carrier that flies 20 million passengers a year to 126 destinations, including New York, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando. The subsidiary would be called Norwegian Air International.

John Byerly, a former State Department official who now serves as a consultant to the Norwegian airline, was chief negotiator for the 2007 agreement for unfettered airline service between the USA and Europe. He said rejecting the airline proposal could lead to a trade dispute.

"It is simply absurd and ridiculous to assert that the U.S. aviation industry -- making record profits, paying high dividends and buying back stock -- is in a crisis," Byerly said. "This is just over the bend."

Lasse Sandaker-Nielsen, an airline spokesman, has called the criticism of low wages and a lack of safety "slanderous."

When more than 100 U.S. pilots visited Congress on May 29 to lobby against the proposal, Sandaker-Nielsen said the airline hired 300 flight attendants in Fort Lauderdale and New York out of 6,000 applicants.

"Safety has always been, is, and will always be our No. 1 priority," Sandaker-Nielsen said. "If you ask our American colleagues they will say that their wages and benefits are superior to those of their U.S. counterparts."