Tyler Cautions on Actions

As the rhetoric continues to build over the EU’s ETS, IATA DG Tony Tyler has warned that airlines can't ignore EU regulations. Addressing a roundtable discussion of the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Assn. (ALTA) Airline Leaders Forum in Rio de Janeiro, Tyler said that "if nothing changes [by January], airlines will have to comply.”

He added that it "would be crazy" for US carriers to scrap transatlantic flying over the ETS.

It will get "interesting" if a bill recently passed by the US House of Representatives to prohibit US airlines from participating in the ETS actually became law, Tyler said, noting that US airlines "can't comply with both." The House vote is largely symbolic at this stage as action from both the Senate and President Barack Obama, which does not appear imminent, would be required to turn the legislation into law.

Tyler said, the sooner the EU resolves the controversy over the ETS, "the less damage will be done." While acknowledging there are "no public signs" the EU is backing down, he said IATA believes "they are having some second thoughts."