Tag: aviation

The European Commission should end national monopolies of air traffic control if it is to succeed in making air travel more efficient, an executive of low-cost leader Ryanair told EU officials yesterday (21 January).

SPECIAL REPORT / Aircraft makers are increasingly turning to retired airplanes as a source of metals and other materials that can be recycled, possibly to fly again in new generations of aircraft.

With European airlines on course to lose more than €800 million this year, Commission Vice President Siim Kallas today (27 September) called for forging aviation agreements and partnerships in fast-growing Asian and Middle Eastern markets as well as neighbouring Russia.

A leading MEP strongly reacted after the US Senate transport committee cleared a key vote on a measure that would ban American airlines from paying for their carbon emissions and participating in the EU’s controversial cap-and-trade scheme.

Flights over Brussels should be more severely restricted in order to protect inhabitants from excess noise levels, says Véronique de Potter from local campaign group Bruxelles Air Libre. But she says the Flemish region, where the airport is situated, "will almost go to war" if flight routes are diverted from the Belgian capital to fly over Flemish territory.

In a bid to tackle the expected doubling of air traffic by 2030, MEPs have called for increased transparency and competitiveness in the allocation of airport slots.

SPECIAL REPORT / Under pressure to cut carbon emissions, the aviation industry is urging policymakers to support the development of biofuels for aircraft in the same way they have done for road transport. EurActiv reports from the Farnborough Airshow.

Meetings between EU and Chinese officials aimed at helping Beijing to draft plans for its own carbon emissions market are “increasing in intensity,” the EU’s chief climate negotiator, Artur Runge-Metzger has told EurActiv.

Boeing threw its weight behind Airbus in a dispute over European Union airline emissions on Thursday (22 March), announcing at the same time an agreement to develop and commercialise sustainable biofuels for use in airplanes.

It is essential to review certain regulations regarding aviation security rules and flight times in order to secure an efficient aviation, argues Henrik Dam Kristensen, Danish transport minister.

As a ‘coalition of the unwilling’ meets in Moscow to debate retaliatory measures against the EU’s inclusion of airlines in the Emissions Trading System (ETS), a senior Airbus executive has warned of a ‘trade war’.

The eurozone crisis and China’s willingness to help debt-ridden European countries will be at the core of a key EU-China summit starting today (14 February) in Beijing, even though officials in Brussels have little hope that precise figures will come out of the meeting.

Far from damaging US airlines, the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) could deliver it a €2 billion windfall profit, according to a new report by a US Federal Aviation Administration-funded group of academics.

European airlines, biofuel producers and the European Commission signed up yesterday (22 June) to producing two million tonnes of biofuel for aviation by 2020 even as debate rages over how green such fuels actually are. 

Including aviation in the EU's emissions trading scheme does not violate international trade law and will in fact pave the way for other nations to develop their own emissions trading systems, argues Eberhard Rhein.

Chinese airlines have joined US rivals in opposing their inclusion in the European Union's carbon emissions trading scheme, which plans to cap the emissions of all global air carriers flying in and out of Europe from 2012.

When the European Commission unveiled plans to slash transport CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050 last week, many assumed the figure would apply to road, rail and air travel in the same way. But EurActiv has learned that the cut for aviation is only 34%, a target both environmentalists and industry sources say is unrealistic.

Airlines have committed to ramping up their use of biofuels in the belief that they can contribute to achieving the sector's pledges on carbon-neutral growth. For 2050, the EU foresees 40% use of "sustainable low carbon fuels" in aviation.

Emissions trading for the aviation sector will start in January 2012 with a yearly allowance of 213 million tonnes of CO2, the European Commission said yesterday (7 March), announcing the EU's first key measure to reduce the impact of air travel on global warming.

All aviation stakeholders, including manufacturers, airlines, airports and navigation service providers, have issued a joint call for governments to agree a global plan to address aviation emissions at December's United Nations climate summit in Cancún.

Industry is on track to ensure "carbon-neutral growth" in the aviation sector from 2020, but strengthened European Union support for research and development (R&D) is vital to help manufacturers deliver the green technologies required, François Gayet, secretary-general of the AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD), told EurActiv in an interview.

The European Union, the United States and six other countries have agreed on an "agenda for freedom" for airlines that could open the way for mergers and consolidation across the financially troubled industry. 

Pilots and cabin crew representatives urged the European Commission yesterday (5 October) to match current EU rules on flight time limitations with scientific and medical advice, saying long hours of work are putting passenger safety at risk.

The €1.6 billion European programme to drive the aviation sector towards more environmentally-friendly development is now on track, according to Allan Cook, president of the Aerospace and Defense industries association of Europe (ASD).