Europe deals a blow to airlines

Posted 08/10/2011

The European Court of Justice has rejected a challenge by US airlines to their inclusion in the European emissions trading scheme.

In a preliminary ruling, the advocate general of the Court of Justice Juliane Kokott ruled that the requirement for non-EU airlines to join the scheme from January next year did not breach international law.

Although the court will not announce its final decision until next year, it is unlikely to go against the advocate general's opinion.

The case had been brought by the US Air Transport Association and major US airlines, which had argued that as the Chicago Convention outlaws fuel tax on international flights the emissions trading scheme was illegal.

They also claimed that the scheme was in breach of the US-UK air service agreement, but the advocate general rejected both arguments.

The International Air Transport Association, which was also against the emissions trading scheme, was it was disappointed with the ruling but director general and CEO Tony Tyler said: "This it is only part of a complex set of developments concerning the EU ETS."

The airline industry would prefer the International Civil Aviation Organization to set up a global emissions trading scheme but the EU claims that in the absence of a worldwide scheme it has been forced to act unilaterally.

All flights that take off or land within the EU will have to pay for their carbon emissions from next January, the costs of which are likely to be passed on to passengers in the form of higher air fares.

 

Originally published 8 Oct 2011 at: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/398/f/5923/s/191a8138/l/0L0Stravelmole0N0Cstories0C114970A90Bphp0Dmpnlog0F1/story01.htm