Americans Quarrel With Europeans Over Airline Pollution
The Open Skies agreement which deregulates the aviation industries of the US and Europe will come into effect March 30th. But the treaty is undermined by a row over offsetting pollution.
Theoretically the agreement whereby airlines from the US and Europe are allowed to land in any airport on the two continents, should lower flight costs, open up airlines to foreign ownership and the create new flight routes between Europe and the US. But it ain’t happening. All of these targets are obscured in heavy clouds.
Virgin Atlantic, which inaugurated the world’s first biofuel flight a few weeks back, told a recent New York news conference that it doesn’t foresee any progress on Open Skies in the near future. The company hasn’t even chosen any destinations for new flight routes and says this is not in the cards for at least another two years.
So what the hell is up? The Europeans blame it all on top US officials including President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Jacques Barrot, the EU’s top airline official recently told the Guardian that the US is deliberately hampering progress by demanding European cooperation on nitty gritty rules to guarantee security. EU airlines flying to the US are requested to hand over passenger lists, even of people that do not land on US soil. This smells like a deliberate attempt to sabotage the Open Skies deal.
The Europeans have threatened US airlines with a ban if they don’t start carbon trading plans. Airline industry officials say that all hopes are pinned now on a new US administration. “[ ...] attitudes are changing. Particularly with Bush and Cheney gone, there is a real hope of things moving on. The new administration will be under pressure to take new measures,” Barrot was quoted as saying by the Guardian newspaper.
The aviation industry’s financiers seem to be convinced carbon trading is going to take off come what may. Financial analysts are dissecting the airline industry to assess new risks; those related to public perception on pollution. Ratings agency Moody’s is compiling models to attach fair pollution offsetting criteria to its ratings.
George Godlin, a Moody’s analyst, believes that the airline industry is set to become a model for cleaning up polluting industries and attaching financial imperatives.
Europeans thus far are alone in having passed legislation mandating airlines participate in carbon emissions trading. The deadline is set for 2011/2012. The European trading scheme might well become an international platform, especially if the credit rating agencies incorporate them in their criteria for risk assessments. That will also put more pressure on the politicians.
