The ruling/legislation as below - I have struggled my way through this particular legislation and have found it unclear and ambiguous and have yet to find anyone at my local EU NAA to explain it as they dont know either...my (current) interpretation is as follows;
It affects all EU operators - however any flight which does not arrive/depart from EU airport appears excluded - member state allocates a known 'free' allocation based on previous usage ie. therefore in future you cannot exceed this free of charging and it reduces year by year (4%?) obviously to encourage a move to a less 'dirty' fleet - also any 'installation' (ie. airline fleet) that produces less than 25000 tonnes CO2 each year is excluded, I have no idea exactly how much an MD80 produces but i am guessing with a majority of our acft/flight outside EU then we would as a fleet be excluded (implementation of this to Aviation is again unclear)
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/aviation_en.htm
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/...0090625:EN:PDF
I have been able to get the ICAO Engine Exhaust Emissions Databank sheet for the MD80 and have (I think) interpolated that during a take off and landing sequence we produce 504g of emissions x 2 engines = 1008g
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/702/1PW018_01102004.pdf
ATB| ATB Sections
Aircraft Engine Emissions | Human and Environmental Issues | Safety Regulation
In lieu/view of the above at this stage I believe that for several reasons our operation will be exempt particularly under the 'installation/fleet - less than 25000 tonnes emissions' clause
Sorry but even after a month of investigation, even I have to admit semi defeat (or semi progress) on this one...and would be interested on any further detailed/qualified input