Today America’s biggest airlines are expected to intensify their campaign against Gulf carriers. The bosses of American, Delta and United are likely to call on their government to freeze the rights of Emirates, Qatar and Etihad to fly to America, in a long-running argument over subsidies. The Americans, fearful of a beating like that many big European carriers have taken from the Gulf airlines, accuse their Middle Eastern rivals of benefiting from enormous state handouts to build their increasingly popular globe-spanning networks. The Gulf airlines deny that the competition is unfair and accuse the American carriers of resorting to protectionism rather than allow travellers a free choice. As the lobbying against the Gulf upstarts heats up, their encroachment onto American runways shows no sign of slowing: last week Qatar said it would add services to Boston, Atlanta and Los Angeles next year.