The coalition of American aviation interests that challenged the EU’s right to introduce emissions trading to air transport has abandoned its legal action. A group of six NGOs welcomed the decision, but said the airline coalition’s failure to accept December’s ruling by the European Court of Justice suggests the Americans may be moving the battlefield elsewhere.
Germany’s federal administrative court has ruled that the ban on night-time flights at Frankfurt airport is legal. The ban on all flights from 23.00 to 05.00 came into effect in October, despite opposition from Lufthansa which said the ban could damage Frankfurt’s status as the seventh-largest cargo handling airport in the world.
United, American Airlines, and their trade association, Airlines for America, gave up on a lost cause, a late and ill-conceived legal challenge to the European Union’s landmark law limiting global warming pollution from aviation.
This briefing highlights quotes from two IATA reports, from 2001 and 2007, that show the aviation industry initially supported the concept of emissions trading for aviation, going as far as calling it a "no brainer" that would "maximise gain". However, more recent quotes from the organisation's CEO show that now the EU has led efforts to actually introduce such a scheme, IATA has changed its mind and launched an all-out attack against it.
Editorial by Jos Dings, T&E Director
If you listen carefully through the cacophony surrounding the inclusion of aviation in Europe’s Emissions Trading System, there is progress. Important progress.The verdict of the European Court of Justice cleared the legal hurdle, which even more clearly exposes this fight for what it really is: a political power struggle between the most important economic blocs on the planet.
Europe’s top climate official, Jos Delbeke has said Europe will ‘not accept’ retaliatory action against the inclusion of aviation emissions in Europe’s ETS scheme.
