Speaking at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai this week, the chairman of Emirates told reporters the Gulf carrier should be allowed two years to respond to allegations by U.S. carriers that it received government subsidies amounting to an unfair advantage under Open Skies treaties.

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum reportedly settled on the two-year mark because the white paper released earlier this year by U.S. carriers detailing the allegations represented the culmination of a two-year investigation.

“If you want to be fair – if you’ve given somebody two years you have to give it to the other,” he said. “’Fair skies’, fair opportunities.”

“Emirates pays dividend to shareholders, the government; we’ve been publishing our results for the past 23 years, being transparent, dealing with banks, financial institutions, we are in the market for bonds, sukuk — you name it, “ he said.

“Anybody who lends you a dollar these days has to see what you plan to do with it. You cannot just claim it because of who you are or how big you are. So it’s not like we don’t have the data available. It’s all there,” he said adding that compiling the data into a presentable format will be a time-consuming task.

“We will prove we are right and that there is no subsidy.”