Isra-Mart srl: EU Plans to Place Emission Restrictions on All Airlines

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Global airlines have cut their expected profits for 2011 by more than half of what they originally expected on Monday after rising oil prices and disorder in North Africa, Japan and the Middle East have taken a toll on the recovery of the industry. In addition, the representative of the majority of the global carriers, International Air Transport Association (IATA), said there would be an impending trade war if Europe went ahead with their plan to force carriers to join an emissions trading agenda next year.

Under this Emission Trading Scheme, the European Union would require carriers to purchase permits for each and every ton of carbon dioxide the release into the atmosphere over a given cap. However, the EU has said that they would exempt airlines based out of nations that are already taking equivalent steps to cut down on emissions.

"We do not have the same level of sophistication or maturity in trading of carbon credits and therefore any such new policy or levy on Indian carriers flying to Europe would be unfair", said Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher Airlines in India. He agrees with others that this is an unfair rule to place on developing countries. "Now it's a government-to-government matter, not an airline-specific matter", he said.