08/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - The aviation sector has strongly criticised the German decision to introduce a new ecological tax on air travel, as announced on Monday 7 June by Chancellor Angela Merkel as part of the austerity plan presented the same day. “Given the recent volcanic ash crisis, the rough economic climate and low consumer confidence”, this decision is “totally inappropriate”, states IACA (International Air Carrier Association). The (IATA) International Air Transport Association, on the other hand, criticised the “annual burden of one billion euro” imposed on the air sector. IATA Executive Director Giovanni Bisignani said the measure does not correspond to climate objectives, comes at “the wrong moment” and “it ignores the lessons learned from the failure of a similar tax in the Netherlands”. According to the German proposal, the tax should apply until entry into force of the greenhouse gas emissions trading system (ETS) in January 2012. (A.By./transl.jl).