No Fly Zone: India may bar European airlines

The action will follwo if EU bans airlines from the South Asian nation that boycotted the EU’s emissions fee system.

NEW DELHI: India said it may stop European carriers from flying into the country if the European Union (EU) bans airlines from the South Asian nation that boycotted the EU’s emissions fee system. The EU in mid-May gave India and China a month to comply with the airline carbon emissions fee system across the 27-nation bloc, or face penalties for flights into and out of Europe. EU Commissioner for Climate Change Connie Hedegaard said that all EU airlines and “nearly all” world airlines had agreed to hand over emissions data required under the controversial carbon levy that took effect on January 1. India and China have attacked the EU scheme, calling it a unilateral trade levy disguised as an attempt to fight climate change. The EU says the tax aims to help it achieve a goal of cutting emissions by 20% by 2020.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2012.