Canadian airlines object to EU emissions regulations
Europeans acting like 'sheriffs: ' council
Canada's four main airlines accused Europeans Thursday of acting like far-west sheriffs, laying down the law with stringent regulations to curb aircraft greenhouse-gas emissions.
George Petsikas, president of the National Airlines Council of Canada that represents Air Canada, West-Jet Airlines, Jazz Aviation and Air Transat, said that Europe's tough emissions standards set to take effect Jan. 1 for aviation are brash, unilateral and unnecessary.
"Europeans are acting like kind of (Gunsmoke's) Marshal Dillons here, cracking the whip and telling us all we have to have more discipline. Well, we're not all the same," said Petsikas, an executive at Montreal's Air Transat.
In a report released Thursday and intended largely to head off the European initiative, the council insists that its four member airlines have made great strides in cutting fuel consumption - mostly by buying $12 billion worth of new planes that burn less fuel. Gas is the largest single expense for airlines "and no one has to twist our arms to try to reduce that," Petsikas said.
The European Union's ETS (Emissions Trading System) is a sensitive issue in aviation circles, particularly at Montreal's International Civil Aviation Organization. The United Nations organization insists it - not Europe - has the jurisdiction and responsibility to set aviation standards. The U.S. Air Transport Association airline lobby sued in the European Court of Justice to rescind the requirement to buy emissions tax credits for flights to and from Europe, but was rebuffed in a ruling by the court's advocate general this month.
The EU argues that the U.S. has blocked aircraft emissions progress at ICAO on several occasions on behalf of its airline lobby, and points to severe and unilateral U.S. security rules that are binding on non-U.S. citizens.
U.S. airlines estimate the emissions-trading scheme would cost them $3 billion U.S. over the next decade.
Petsikas said the industry is 31-per-cent cleaner than it was in 1990, and is unfairly labelled as "a terrible polluter, you know, irresponsible."
In a bid to save money on fuel, even simple things like keeping aircraft squeaky clean can add up, he said - "you'd be surprised at how much dirt acts as a drag at 600 miles per hour at 35,000 feet."
Research into incorporating biofuels as more than an oddity continues, he said.
Now, he added, third parties - government - must do their part. He cited the familiar landing pattern to Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport: "You loop around, and fly over the Big O and straighten out before you land in Dorval.
"Sure, you get great views of the city, but that takes about five or six minutes and burns a lot of gas. There are ways to do it a lot more directly now, perfectly safely."
The industry is having "a dialogue" about streamlining air-traffic control procedures with Transport Canada, which has yet to approve them, Petsikas said.
Transport Canada did not return mid-afternoon calls.
Earlier this year, Beatrice Olivastri, executive director of environmental group Friends of the Earth Canada in Ottawa, agreed that ICAO should set international standards - as long as they are aggressive, not like "soft" previous norms it set.
This town aint big enough for the two of us, or is three, four, five...........
Me thinks we are just along for the ride
