AACO: Teffaha slams EU plans to resurrect ETS tax

Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) secretary general Abdul Wahab Teffaha has lashed the European Union's plans to reintroduce elements of its controversial Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

At the opening session of AACO's AGM in Doha, he was sharply critical of the EU's plans to introduce environmental levies on third country airlines while flying in EU airspace in the case of landing at or departing from any of its airports..

The EU pronouncement came after ICAO had agreed last month on a global emissions policy to be agreed by the end of 2016 and in force by 2020.

"The least we can say is that we were truly surprised by the European Commission (EC) proposal that strays from what was agreed in substance in ICAO," said Teffaha.

The EC proposal, he said, had previously been rejected by almost all states, including some within Europe. It "awakens the spectre of a trade war", he warned.

"How can countries of the world seriously work to reach an agreement in 2016 when one of the most important stakeholders reneges on a previous one and chooses a unilateral path that the rest of the world has already rejected?"

ICAO was the only way to address a global aviation issue such as emissions control and climate change.

Henrik Hololei, head of cabinet for EC transport commissioner Siim Kallas, speaking to Arabian Aerospace, said the EC had made its proposal and it would be up to European legislators to decide on it.

"I don't think it should be seen as something where Europe is exceeding its competency." European policymakers saw it as a stepping stone towards a global scheme and it had been the announcement of the earlier EU ETS that had spurred the ICAO agreement.