Air Malta insist on global system

Although in principle Air Malta agrees that airlines should start forming part of the European Union's emissions trading scheme (ETS), designed to control the discharge of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, it would prefer if all airlines were to adhere to the same system and not only those carrying the EU flag.

Commenting on the new proposal published by the Commission in Brussels last Wednesday, a spokesman for the national carrier said that "in order for an emissions trading scheme to yield the best environmental benefit, it should be a global system devised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation covering all airlines no matter the area of the world they operate in".

The spokesman argued that any other system, including one that is limited to the EU, will distort competition between airlines and will have a negative impact on the competitiveness of European airlines.

The European Commission plans to start including airlines in its climate change control mechanism, already in place for industrial installations, such as power stations. According to the proposals, from 2011 onwards, all domestic and international flights between EU airports will fall within the scheme. A year later, the scheme will also cover all international flights arriving at or departing from EU airports.

The Commission estimates that by 2020, carbon dioxide savings of as much as 46 per cent, or 183 million tonnes, could be achieved each year.

The Air Malta spokesman said that over the past years the airline had already taken a number of measures which drastically reduce the emission of carbon dioxide from its aircraft. He explained that as early as 2004, Air Malta embarked on a fleet replacement project so that the average age of its fleet is now about 2.75 years.

"By the year 2007, the airline's fleet will have been replaced with 12 new state-of-the-art Airbus planes employing the best available technology from the A320 and A319 aircraft family. By that time the average age of the fleet will go down to 2.5 years."

The Commission's initiative was welcomed by the Association of European Airlines (AEA), to which Air Malta is also affiliated.

Speaking to The Times, AEA's chief executive Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus said his organisation had consistently embraced the concept of ETS as a useful tool in the drive to manage the industry's greenhouse gas emissions. However, he said this had now to be accompanied by improvements on the ground.

"I see no point in allocating emission permits to airlines, only for them to be used up in flying circuitous routings, or holding patterns waiting for a runway slot at a congested airport. Much of our fuel is wasted in going round in circles over airports awaiting permission to land. This issue should also be addressed if we really want to tackle greenhouse gas emissions by airlines," he said.

The new system, which still has to be adopted by the EU member states and the European Parliament, is also likely to have a cost to consumers, who will have to fork out the extra expense this system will mean to airlines. However, the Commission is saying that the costs should be minimal, estimated at no more that €9 on a European route. The costs will be higher in the case of flights to destinations outside Europe.

According to the Commission's proposal, airlines will receive tradable allowances to emit a certain level of carbon dioxide per year from their flights. After each year operators must surrender a number of allowances equal to their actual emissions in that year.

The total number of allowances available to airlines in the future will be capped at the average level of emissions in the years 2004-2006.