Opposition to the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme has intensified during discussions at the Singapore Airshow this week.
Airbus CEO Tom Enders said he was concerned at the potential fall-out if tensions are not defused.
“What started out as a solution for the environment has become a source of potential trade conflict and that should be a worry for all of us,” he said.
Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said opposition to the scheme was based on the way it is applied.
“I was quoting the example of us flying non-stop from Singapore all the way to Europe. We get charged the whole journey, when somebody who could fly passengers to an intermediate point, and from there go to Europe, ends up paying much less,” he said.
Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, said, “The risk for the airlines if this degenerates into a tit-for-tat trade war, is that airlines will be caught in a cross-fire from both sides.”
Cathay Pacific CEO John Slosar told a senior European Commission official at the airshow, “You can’t have it both ways.
There’s a difference between leadership and bludgeoning. You guys applied the latter, and now you’re discovering it works both ways.”
Last week China banned its airlines from joining the scheme, which levies a charge on flights in EU airspace based on carbon emissions.
