Europese luchtvaart in de knel

De Europese luchtvaart verkeert thans in een benarde situatie. Van verschillende kanten wordt de sector bedreigd, deels door de economische crisis en deels door Europees wanbeleid dat direct voortvloeit uit de klimaathysterie.

In de Britse 'Telegraph' rapporteert David Millward:

European airlines could go out of business, warns economist Brian Pearce

European airlines could go out of business because of the continent's economic weakness, the aviation industry's leading economist has warned.
 
IATA, which had previously predicted European carriers would lose £385m, has nearly doubled the losses it expects this year. 
 
With the industry predicting that European carriers will lose £710m between them this year, Brian Pearce voiced fears that there could be some casualties.

Mr Pearce, chief economist of the International Air Transport Association, was pessimistic about the industry's prospects in Europe.
 
"I think there is a serious risk to the financial viability of some airlines," he said. "To an extent it depends on the economic outlook we see in Europe. We have already seen some airlines go out of business and there is a clear possibility it will continue."

Casualties have included Spanair and Malev, the Hungarian national carrier.

Mr Pearce declined to be drawn on who else was at risk, although it is understood that weaker flag carriers could be in danger.
 
The extent of damage being wrought by the European banking crisis was demonstrated by the latest IATA forecasts, which were unveiled at the industry's global summit in Beijing.
 
IATA, which had previously predicted European carriers would lose £385m, has nearly doubled the losses it expects this year.

Lees verder hier.

Onder de titel, 'Air fares may rise on trade war over EU emissions levy', rapporteert dezelfde David Millward:

Passengers face the threat of paying more for air travel if a trade war erupts over EU plans to impose a carbon levy on all airlines.
 
IATA has pleaded with the EU to delay the scheme which will require airlines to pay for carbon permits, rather than trigger a full scale trade war.

A total of 30 countries - including India, Russia, China and the United States - have threatened to retaliate if Brussels tries to enforce its Emissions Trading Scheme on all airlines operating in its airspace.

Measures include imposing levies on EU carriers using their airports.

EU carriers could be prevented from using airspace over countries which object to the scheme.

Forcing planes to divert - for example avoiding India - would add to the cost of flying to popular holiday destinations such as Thailand.
 
"It could incur additional expense for the industry, which may have to be passed on to passengers," said Paul Steele, the International Air Transport Association's environment director.
 
Flight frequencies could also be cut, reducing the number seats available to passengers, which in turn could drive up the cost of travel.
 
The package of retaliatory measures were drawn up earlier this year by the "Coalition of the Unwilling" - the countries most incensed by the ETS scheme.

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China is koploper van de groep landen die zich verzet tegen de Europese maatregelen.

Onder de titel, 'China threatens to seize planes in EU tax row', rapporteerde Marion Dakers op City A.M.:

CHINA yesterday threatened to impound European planes if its own aircraft are seized, in the latest tit-for-tat over the EU’s unpopular carbon emission tax.
 
Chinese airlines, at the behest of Beijing, have refused to hand over data on their carbon emissions by Europe’s 31 March deadline.

And now authorities have warned they could hold up European flights if the EU tries to punish them for the breach.

EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard has said the carriers have until the end of this week to submit their data or face enforcement action such as fines or impounding aircraft.
 
“Chinese airlines are unanimous on this. We won’t provide the data,” said Wei Zhenzhong, secretary general of the China Air Transport Association, on the sidelines of an International Air Transport Association (IATA) meeting in Beijing.
 
Wei said China “would try to avoid any trade war”, but is prepared to retaliate if its state carriers –?Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines – are penalised.
 
The country has already delayed an estimated $14bn of plane orders in protest at the carbon scheme, prompting airlines of all stripes to ask Europe to delay the introduction of the cap-and-trade programme.

China has been the most vociferous critic of the plans to tax polluting carriers, but the US, India and Russia have also hit out at Europe’s plans. ...

The EU has said it is prepared to withdraw the plan if other countries can come up a suitable global alternative.

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Dat laatste is natuurlijk een gotspe. De EU lanceert een onzinnig plan en als andere landen daarin niet mee willen gaan, mogen ze een alternatief voorstellen? Hoe verzin je het? Wat een Europese arrogantie!

Het conflict met China en andere landen is een krachtproef voor de levensvatbaarheid van Europese CO2 – beleid, dat veel kost en geen enkel aantoonbaar klimaateffect heeft. Trekt China aan het langste eind, dan is dat tevens een duidelijk signaal dat de internationale machtsverhoudingen zijn verschoven, ten voordele van China en ten nadele van Europa.

Het is vooral Eurocommissaris Conny Hedegaard die hiervoor en ander onzinnig klimaatbeleid ('All pain and no gain.') verantwoordelijk is. Het is hoog tijd dat aan haar welvaartsvernietigend beleid een einde komt en dat zij in de gelegenheid wordt gesteld om elders nieuwe uitdagingen te zoeken - daarmee het voorbeeld volgend van 'onze eigen' Yvo de Boer, voormalig klimaatcoördinator van de VN, die thans in de luwte bij Deloitte & Touche - hopelijk berouwvol - kan terugkijken op de puinhoop die hij heeft achtergelaten.