Ash ban will cost airlines up to €40m in extra EU ETS credits, warns AEA
The Association of European Airlines (AEA) has warned that the ash ban will have a significant impact on the allocation of credits under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The ban due to volcanic ash and a particularly harsh winter have had an impact on the number of flight hours, especially within Europe; “Using 2010 emissions as the baseline for allocation of permits to airlines for the whole period of the Scheme 2012 – 2020, will create significant distortions,” the AEA warned. The comment was in response to a European Commission spokesperson who had said the disruption would have a ‘tiny’ effect on the scheme. “Some airlines will have to pay €40m more for certificates because their share of the cake in the base year will have changed,” said Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, secretary general of the AEA. “To the European Commission such sums may be ‘tiny’, to the airlines they certainly are not”. ($1= €0.84)
