African and Chinese airlines are struggling against European plans to ban them from European airports Safety and green are seemingly the two excuses that European Commission uses to close its airspace to Chinese and African airlines. The EC has just added a new African country to its blacklist, banning all its airlines from operating to Europe. On the other hand, Chinese airlines strongly attacked EC plan to impose a new carbon emission trade scheme that will cost them billions of yuans. The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) has reacted with "great disappointment and concern" at the latest decision by the EC to include all airlines registered in Mozambique and two Air Madagascar 767s on the European Union's blacklist. The AFRAA noted that Mozambique is the 14th African country to be subject to a blanket ban; an additional four African states are subject to either a partial ban or have an individual carrier that has been restricted from operating to the EU. The excuse invoked to justify the ban is air safety. Yet the main Mozambican air company, the public owned Mozambique Airlines (LAM), has a far better safety record than several European airlines. According to AFRAA, since LAM was established, in 1980, it has not had a single major accident, and since 1989 there have been no accidents of any kind involving LAM aircraft. "This compares very favourably with some major European airlines. For example, according to the Flight Safety Foundation, Air France has had 23 major accidents (involving substantial damage to aircraft, serious or fatal injuries) since 1990, three of them with fatalities, and a total of 348 deaths." The blacklist, it argues, has no visible benefit in improving African air safety. "The use of blanket bans is "a blunt instrument that constrains the development of a viable African air transport industry in Africa. It also impacts airlines ticket sales to other destinations including on code shared routes", it stated. "If the airspace of an African country is unsafe, it is unsafe also for European carriers who continue to fly the African skies for commercial benefit," AFRAA commented. "While the net losers are African carriers, the net beneficiaries are always the EU carriers that swiftly step in to fill the vacuum and take the market share of the banned airlines. EU carriers will continue to operate with increased frequencies and higher yields to Mozambique and the other states that are the subject of the ban." AFRAA called on African governments, the African Union and the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) not to allow "this state of affairs to continue, as the continents' air transport industry is being progressively destroyed." They want governments and civil aviation authorities "to address the serious safety oversight deficiencies and concerns in the states blacklisted and to seriously and meaningfully engage with the EU to establish a mutually acceptable, fair and transparent mechanism to address safety concerns in place of the unilateral blanket banning". The China Air Transport Association (CATA) on the other hand has said it and its airline members do not acknowledge the European Union's Emissions Trading System (ETS), something they say would cost them billions of yuan each year. CATA urged Beijing to take tougher action against next year's inclusion of non-EU airlines in the EU's controversial Emissions Trading Scheme. "If the EU insists on carrying out the plan, the association will strongly recommend that the Chinese government takes even harsher counter-measures against flights in and out of China operated by airlines from EU member countries," the association said in a statement. The EU approved a proposal in 2008 to include the aviation industry in its ETS after emissions from the sector doubled since 1990. Such emissions account for around 3 per cent of the EU's total carbon dioxide footprint. Under the ETS, all flights departing or landing at EU airports will have to participate in emissions trading from 1 January 2012, which means airlines that exceed their carbon dioxide limit will have to buy unused quotas from more energy-efficient businesses or face a fine. China is not the only country that is refusing to participate in the EU's plan. The US Air Transport Association and its three member carriers American Airlines, Continental Airlines and United Airlines launched a lawsuit last December. According to the industry's calculations, China's airlines will pay about 800 million yuan ($123 million) to the EU in 2012 and face a bill of more than 3 billion yuan in 2020. The total amount in the next nine years is estimated to reach 17.6 billion yuan. However, against EC sole plans, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is running a carbon offset program under the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), in which firms investing in such projects receive credits called certified emissions reductions. "Aviation is a growing market especially in the Asia region. That is why we have specific measures in place to neutralise those increases in carbon emissions," explained Michael Schneider, IATA assistant director for carbon offsets. "This year we expect 10 airlines to join our carbon offset program and about five are from Asian countries." Schneider said that Mozambique Airlines (LAM), EgyptAir and South African Airways were expected to start making payments to carbon offset schemes this year. "They are in full swing and in the next two months LAM is going to implement its programme. Egyptair will be dealt with in four months. We are in discussions with South African Airways but they have not yet committed," said Schneider.
