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Global airlines urged the European Union on Wednesday to back down on plans to charge for pollution as a United Nations body prepared to weigh in on a developing trade row.
The International Air Transport Association said its 230 airlines would be hard hit by the EU plan which has sparked a court challenge and a retaliatory bill in the U.S. Congress.
"We urge the Europeans to drop their proposals and devote the energy they and other states are spending on fighting each other to co-operating on developing a (global) framework," IATA director general Tony Tyler told reporters in a conference call.
Under the EU's proposals, airlines will have to join its Emissions Trading Scheme and buy permits to offset greenhouse emissions from jetliners operating in or to and from Europe starting from Jan. 1.
The costs will depend on distance flown, something critics say distorts the market in favour of those closest to the 27-nation EU bloc and infringes the sovereignty of others.
The United States, China and two dozen other countries are expected to lodge a formal protest at the U.N.'s International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal later on Wednesday.
The agency is reposnsible for setting global standards.
IATA said the unilateral EU plan would cost airlines 1.2 billion euros next year, roughly a quarter of their 2010 profits.
Tyler said consumers would be spared higher ticket prices because of competition, but that the carbon plan would harm already weak industry profits and make it harder to invest in environmentally friendly new fleets.
The row has put the EU on a collision course with many of its biggest trading partners, but its climate chief struck a conciliatory note while defending the purpose of the scheme.
"I think in the way the European Union constructed its law there is plenty of room for flexibility and manoeuvre," Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard told Reuters on a visit to Moscow .
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to ban U.S. airline compliance with the scheme, raising the prospect that transatlantic flights could be disrupted.
But it remained unclear whether the Democrat-controlled Senate would back the legislative move, which the EU has criticized as an attack on its laws.
The airport industry, which often squabbles with airlines over landing charges, gave its backing to the carriers by calling for urgent action to avert a trade conflict.
Angela Gittens, director general of Airports Council International, set up 20 years ago to lobby for some 1,650 airports worldwide, said communities faced hardship if the dispute spilled over to trade links and disrupted flights.
However environmental groups say adding aviation to the EU's prime tool for controlling greenhouse gas emissions is the best way of containing further damage to the environment.
Global airlines urged the European Union on Wednesday to back down on plans to charge for pollution as a United Nations body prepared to weigh in on a developing trade row.
The International Air Transport Association said its 230 airlines would be hard hit by the EU plan which has sparked a court challenge and a retaliatory bill in the U.S. Congress.
"We urge the Europeans to drop their proposals and devote the energy they and other states are spending on fighting each other to co-operating on developing a (global) framework," IATA director general Tony Tyler told reporters in a conference call.
Under the EU's proposals, airlines will have to join its Emissions Trading Scheme and buy permits to offset greenhouse emissions from jetliners operating in or to and from Europe starting from Jan. 1.
The costs will depend on distance flown, something critics say distorts the market in favour of those closest to the 27-nation EU bloc and infringes the sovereignty of others.
The United States, China and two dozen other countries are expected to lodge a formal protest at the U.N.'s International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal later on Wednesday.
The agency is reposnsible for setting global standards.
IATA said the unilateral EU plan would cost airlines 1.2 billion euros next year, roughly a quarter of their 2010 profits.
Tyler said consumers would be spared higher ticket prices because of competition, but that the carbon plan would harm already weak industry profits and make it harder to invest in environmentally friendly new fleets.
The row has put the EU on a collision course with many of its biggest trading partners, but its climate chief struck a conciliatory note while defending the purpose of the scheme.
"I think in the way the European Union constructed its law there is plenty of room for flexibility and manoeuvre," Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard told Reuters on a visit to Moscow .
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to ban U.S. airline compliance with the scheme, raising the prospect that transatlantic flights could be disrupted.
But it remained unclear whether the Democrat-controlled Senate would back the legislative move, which the EU has criticized as an attack on its laws.
The airport industry, which often squabbles with airlines over landing charges, gave its backing to the carriers by calling for urgent action to avert a trade conflict.
Angela Gittens, director general of Airports Council International, set up 20 years ago to lobby for some 1,650 airports worldwide, said communities faced hardship if the dispute spilled over to trade links and disrupted flights.
However environmental groups say adding aviation to the EU's prime tool for controlling greenhouse gas emissions is the best way of containing further damage to the environment.
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