News: Easyjet call for end to anti-aviation hysteria
Flights > News > # 711 (20/03/2006)
Easyjet has called for an end to what it calls the “hysterical persecution of aviation” by green campaigners. Bosses at the no-frills airline have also said they want a balanced debate on the environmental impact of flying.
Easyjet have gone on the offensive following the release of a report into European emissions trading by one the Continent’s top economic consultancy firms. Frontier Economics’ report for the European Low Fares Airline Association, which was published on March 20, states aviation accounts for only 4% of CO2 emissions in the European Union and will only increase by 1% by 2030.
Easyjet chief executive, Andy Harrison, said the report highlighted that the environmental cost the expansion of Europe’s flights network is not as bad as many people fear. Harrison said:
“We are calling for an end to the hysterical persecution of aviation by those that seek to wrongly blame airlines, particularly low-cost airlines, for climate change. Aviation has its part to play – and the report demonstrates that we are playing it – but those that contend it is “all the fault of airlines” are wrong, wrong, wrong!”
Harrison dismissed the idea of increasing taxes on air travel, and said this would merely discriminate against those who until recently were priced out of the sky. He also defended Easyjet’s environmental record, adding:
“Easyjet is one of the world’s most environmentally-efficient airlines. We are a responsible airline and take our environmental obligations seriously. We fly brand-new aircraft with some of the highest load-factors in the business. We fly point-to-point so don’t waste resources on unnecessary connecting flights and have always argued for bankrupt inefficient airlines to leave the sector and eliminate the unprofitable flying that is usually done on older, dirtier aircraft.”
Other airlines, including Flybe and Ryanair, have also welcomed the report’s findings. Flybe chief, Mike Rutter, said he is concerned that the environment debate is so focused on the aviation industry, adding: “The result is that some of Europe’s biggest offenders in terms of emissions, in particular road transport, are getting off lightly and aviation is being characterised as a major problem.”
The same sentiments were echoed by Ryanair. A spokesman for the Irish airline said: “We are calling on the EU Commission to stop targeting an area of industry that has low emissions and one that is already doing its utmost to reduce fuel burn and therefore emissions, and to focus on areas where there is truly a problem, for example, the growing number of highly polluting SUVs on Europe’s roads!”
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