The head of Virgin Atlantic has urged the European Union to lift the “cloud of uncertainty” hanging over the aviation industry and produce a workable emissions trading scheme.
The carrier’s chief executive Steve Ridgway said he was in favour of an emissions trading scheme (ETS) for the airline sector. But while it offered an alternative to “vitriolic” national taxation schemes against the airline industry, it also had to be “workable”, he said.
He also warned that the EU was struggling to meet a deadline of January 1, 2012 for the introduction of ETS.
Addressing a meeting of aviation experts in Brussels, he said: “A vibrant aviation industry is required to sustain Europe’s economic development. I am today appealing to the EU to come up with a workable emissions trading scheme.
“Failure to do so will put at risk the competitiveness of the whole aviation industry. This is the last thing we can need at a time when economies are struggling.” Ridgway told the meeting that up to 2020, ETS will cost Europe’s aviation industry some €3.1 billion.
“At a time of severe economic problems you would expect the EU regulators to be on our side but I am not sure this is the case,” he added.
Ridgway, who is also chairman of the Association of European Airlines, said: “We want the ETS to work, but the European commission must also realise the risk to the competitiveness of the aviation industry.”
He emphasised the importance of the aviation sector to Europe’s economy, saying it contributed some €300 billion to the continent’s GDP annually.
But he also warned that the sector is currently “over-taxed and over-regulated”. “Aviation is a key economic generator but this, I am afraid to say, is often overlooked. We do not talk about this as much as we should.”