Airline industry step up condemnation of EU's Emission Trading Scheme

Airline groups around the world have continued with their condemnation of the European Parliament's decision to include both EU and non-EU carriers in an emissions trading scheme from 2012.

The director general of European Regions Airline Associations' Mike Ambrose called the authorities' lack of concern for the "inevitable" failure of some airlines "indefensible", and said that the move put jobs at risk while denying communities international access.

International Air Carrier Association's director general Sylviane Lust said the decision ''creates the worst of all worlds'', multiplying the financial pressure on airlines with no proven benefits for the environment.

Ryanair said EU's move could push fares up to €50.

Amongst the international bodies, the US Air Transport Association said EU's "unilateral grab of power" is "bad policy". It said that the move would definitely spawn legal challenges, with president and CEO James May going as far to say that the EU would ''siphon away the very funds the airlines need to continue to reduce emissions within the industry."

Director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines Andrew Herdman said the members of the European Parliament have ''overreached their authority", while reminding the EU that over 130 non-EU governments have made their opposition to the EU move ''abundantly clear" at an International Civil Aviation Organisation meet last year.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) severely criticised the European Parliament vote to bring aviation into the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). ''It's absolutely the wrong answer to the very serious issue of environment,'' said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's Director General and CEO. ''We support emissions trading, but not this decision. Europe has taken the wrong approach, with the wrong conditions at the wrong time.''