A one cent per liter tax on jet fuel, part of the system,\u00a0is at least partially responsible for the international dispute.<\/p>\n
According\u00a0to Flight Global<\/em>, \u201cThe airlines likely to be involved are the nation’s flag\u00a0carrier Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines, said an\u00a0official from the China Air Transport Association.\u201d<\/p>\n Strange allies: Air China ...<\/p><\/div>\n America has weighed in with court challenges from\u00a0American Airlines and United Continental, represented by the Air Transport\u00a0Association (ATA), and Congress has added its voice, opposing what it perceives as European threats\u00a0to American sovereignty and defending domestic jobs, which it sees as\u00a0threatened by European rules that favor European Union interests.<\/p>\n Even\u00a0Canada is chafing at the new rules, as reported in the Montreal Gazette<\/a>.\u00a0 \u201cGeorge Petsikas, president\u00a0of the National Airlines Council of Canada that represents Air Canada, West-Jet\u00a0Airlines, Jazz Aviation and Air Transat, said that Europe’s tough emissions\u00a0standards set to take effect Jan. 1 for aviation are brash, unilateral and\u00a0unnecessary.<\/p>\n “\u2019Europeans are acting like kind of (Gunsmoke’s) Marshal\u00a0Dillons here, cracking the whip and telling us all we have to have more discipline. Well, we’re not all the same,\u2019 said Petsikas, an executive at Montreal’s Air Transat.\u201d<\/p>\n Petsikas\u00a0points out that airlines have invested over $12 billion in new equipment to\u00a0lower fuel use, and that since fuel is the largest single expense for airlines,\u00a0“no one has to twist our arms to try to reduce that.\u201d<\/p>\n Flight\u00a0Global <\/a>reports, \u201cDespite widespread criticism of the ETS and threats of\u00a0retaliatory action from governments and airlines worldwide, the EU has not\u00a0indicated it would budge on implementing it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe\u00a0European Court of Justice issued a preliminary opinion last month, concluding\u00a0that the scheme is in line with international law. A final ruling from the court is expected at the end of 2011 or in early 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n The National Business\u00a0Aviation Association <\/a>(NBAA) explains, \u201cThe US has already joined forces with\u00a0other states, mainly from the developing world, to fight the EU. On 30 September it signed the \u2018Delhi Declaration\u2019, along with Brazil, China, India,\u00a0Russia and South Africa, which called for the EU and its member states to refrain from including non-EU carriers in the EU ETS. It has now agreed to support a paper expected to be considered by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization)\u00a0Council members during the Council\u2019s 194th Session starting shortly.<\/p>\n \u201dThe paper is to be\u00a0presented, probably on 2nd November, by most of the participants in the Delhi\u00a0meeting with the exception of Chile, Canada, the Philippines, Thailand and Turkey, the latter four now not appearing to have signed the Declaration. New supporters include Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guatemala, Swaziland and Uganda \u2013 none of whom have any carriers included in the EU ETS.\u201d<\/p>\n On October 24, the U. S.\u00a0House of Representatives passed H.R. 2594, prohibiting U. S. airlines from complying with the EU\u2019s ETS.\u00a0 The bill awaits debate in the Senate, but it would still need a Presidential signature to become law.\u00a0 If the bill does become law, it will put U. S. carriers into a stressful position.\u00a0 Compliance with the European System\u2019s rules would be in defiance of U. S. law, and compliance with U. S. law could shut down air travel to Europe.<\/p>\n Pressure also grows on Congress from opposing camps<\/a>. A coalition of 12 airline and travel associations including the Airline Transport Association\u00a0(ATA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) urged\u00a0House Representatives to support H. R. 2594 \u201cto protect American jobs and send the message to the EU that the US government will not tolerate violations of its sovereignty and will ensure that EU ETS does not apply to US aviation.\u201d<\/p>\n An ATA spokesperson said\u00a0that \u201cSubjecting airlines to the EU unilateral system will be counterproductive to achieving our environmental goals and will result in the loss of US jobs.\u00a0 The EU ETS scheme will siphon money away from carriers, impeding their ability to invest in new and more efficient technology.\u201d<\/p>\n Opposing this point of\u00a0view, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) issued a statement that the bill \u201ccould ignite a trade war that would put tens of thousands of US jobs in jeopardy.\u201d (Ironically, this concern for U. S. jobs echoes that of the opposition<\/em>.)<\/p>\n EDF\u2019s International Counsel, Annie Petsonk explained: \u201cBy barring US-based airlines from complying with applicable law for flights travelling to EU airports, this bill would compel those airlines either to drop their EU routes or become scofflaws. It\u2019s bizarre Congress would knowingly pass a law that compels US-based airlines to become outlaws when they do business in the EU.<\/p>\n \u201cThe House passing this bill\u00a0is like another nation saying, \u2018We don\u2019t care if the US has a law enacted by Congress and upheld by the US courts \u2013 we\u2019re going to prohibit our companies from complying.\u2019 It\u2019s unlikely our Congress would let that kind of action go without retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cThe EU law is a modest, non-discriminatory first step to tackling pollution from airlines.\u00a0 The airlines have done back flips to dodge pollution control in ICAO, where\u00a0countries have spent nearly 15 years failing to agree on a program to cut carbon pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking at the problem from a more political view, \u201cTransport & Environment (T&E), one of the NGOs that sided with the EU in its case brought by the US airlines over the EU ETS and recently heard by the European Court of Justice, has said the agreement signed by 26 countries in Delhi (not necessarily the same 26 that are presenting the ICAO paper) was drafted by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).\u00a0 The ICAO 26 states call in their paper for the Council to \u2018welcome and adopt\u2019 the so-called Delhi Declaration.<\/p>\n \u201cT&E points to a link between the FAA\u2019s Assistant Administrator for Policy, International Affairs and Environment, Dr Julie Oettinger and the Delhi Declaration. Dr.\u00a0Oettinger, an international lawyer, previously worked for United Airlines, one of the airlines involved in the EU law suit, as its Managing Director of International and Regulatory Affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n With the EU\u2019s ETS to be implemented in January, 2012, a great deal of anxiety is evident in the airline community.<\/p>\n \u201c’Whether the scheme is legal or not is\u00a0becoming irrelevant \u2013 it is now about the politics,\u2019 said Simon McNamara, Deputy Director General of the European Regions Airline Association <\/a>(ERA \u2013 a coalition of smaller EU carriers).<\/p>\n \u201cHe believed the EU faced three choices: press ahead as planned with the EU ETS in its present\u00a0form, use exemption measures or amend the directive to make it acceptable. He\u00a0said the ERA\u2019s proposal was that the scheme should be implemented in full or not at all, with a global solution under ICAO as the preferred choice.<\/p>\n \u201cMcNamara said a scaling\u00a0back of the scheme to an intra-EU ETS would do nothing for the environment and instead drive up costs.\u201d<\/p>\n Green Air Online<\/em> <\/a>reported on November 1, \u201cJust a week after the US House of Representatives passed the H.R. 2594 bill that prohibits US airlines from participating in the Aviation EU ETS, the EU\u2019s Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard said Europe was confident that the United States will in the end respect EU legislation \u2018just as the EU respects US legislation and US lawmakers\u2019 authority in US airports\u2019. She said the bill was \u2018unusual\u2019 and \u2018a rather unorthodox course of action\u2019 in wanting to tell US airlines not to respect an EU law. Her comments came on the eve of discussions within the ICAO Council tomorrow of an anti-EU ETS paper submitted by 26 nations that urges Europe to exclude flights by non-EU carriers that fly to its airports from the emissions scheme. Meanwhile, European NGO Transport & Environment accuses the US FAA of drafting the Delhi Declaration that led to the ICAO paper and colluding with airline lobbyists.<\/p>\n \u201cHedegaard pointed out in an article on her European Commission web page that given the global nature of the industry, airlines were required to meet certain rules that had international ramifications.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2019As Congressmen who opposed the House bill pointed out, the United States itself requires international airlines to comply with a wide range of US laws when it comes to passenger, baggage and cargo security in order to do business in the US,\u2019 she said. \u2018Other laws also require overseas ports to put in place certain security measures before cargo can be sent to the US.<\/p>\n ...and American Airlines - both united against EU environmental plan<\/p><\/div>\n \u201c\u2019If the US wants to handle emissions from aviation differently, that is fine; our legislation clearly envisages that if a country outside the EU takes \u2018equivalent measures\u2019 to address aviation emissions then all incoming flights can be exempted from the EU system.\u2019<\/p>\n Even if implemented worldwide, the effects might be minimal in the total scheme of things.\u00a0 Air Transport World<\/a><\/em>, in 2006, noted the relative scope of air transport to other polluters.\u00a0 \u201c…Aviation accounts for 3% of the EU’s carbon dioxide emissions and would reach 5% by 2030 at current growth rates. In contrast, power generation contributes 34% and road transport 20%.\u201d<\/p>\n Considering the worldwide implications of compliance with the EU\u2019s new rules, one can only wonder at whether even unanimous rejection of the ETS by the U. S. will have any effect on the final outcome of the system, or whether this could lead to loss of privileges for U. S. carriers in some of their most lucrative markets.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/air-china-747-8-intercontinental-528x422.jpg\" "\\"air-china-747-8-intercontinental\\"")
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