The European Regions Airline Association (ERA) welcomed the European Commission’s acknowledgement that aviation’s inclusion in the European Union’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) must not be accompanied by even further environmental charges on European aviation.

Speaking at the ERA Regional Airline Conference in Malta, Olivier Onidi, the European Commission’s Head of Unit, Internal Market, Air Transport Agreements and Multilateral Relations, stated that the EC is opposed to further costs, such as the environmental taxes enacted in the UK and the Netherlands, being imposed on aviation in the name of environmentalism, whether on a European or national level.

“We do not believe that more costs should be imposed on airlines to achieve the same effect as the ETS,” said Onidi.

ERA Director General Mike Ambrose says: “We are delighted to hear this common sense point of view from a senior EC figure. ETS must be a final solution, not a partial measure. Emissions trading should be designed as the sole economic tool to deal with the environmental challenges facing our industry. Airlines should not have to pay the same costs again under a different name.”