AEA blasts EU assessment of ash impact

Association of European Airlines (AEA) reacted angrily (04-Jun-2010) to a statement by a European Commission spokesperson that the recent travel disruption would have only a "tiny" effect on the impact for European airlines of the EU emissions trading scheme. The AEA believes using 2010 emissions as the baseline for allocation of emission permits to airlines for the EU's ETS from 2012 to 2020, will create significant distortions. [more]

AEA: "Some airlines will have to pay EUR40 million more for certificates because their share of the cake in the base year will have changed. To the European Commission such sums may be 'tiny', to the airlines they certainly are not ... It is evident that the use of 2010 as a baseline will create significant distortions, disadvantaging all airlines, but particularly those who were hardest hit by the unjustified airspace closures this spring. To pretend that the impact is minimal is wrong and disingenuous on the part of the Commission," Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, Secretary General, Source: AEA, 04-Jun-2010.