Brussels, 03/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Region Airlines Association (ERA) rejects that the railways have any advantages over the airlines in terms of emissions trading or in any of the other areas where European policies target aviation. The director-general of ERA, Mike Ambrose, declared at his organisation's general assembly on Thursday 29 September in Rome: “That high-speed rail is seen by two European decision-makers as a preferred alternative to air transport is more a result of doctrine than rational and transparent analyses.” ERA unveiled a comparative study of the two modes of transport and provided a number of different figures: subsidies from EU states to rail are 125 times higher than those to aviation, although turnover for the aviation market is twice as high as that for rail. The same study also claims that emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants such as (CO, NOx, VOC and PM10) are much higher for railways, given the life cycle of the two modes of transport. The airline association therefore calls for more complementarity with the railways instead of a slide towards the railways receiving everything.
At the end of its General Assembly, ERA also announced the adoption of three resolutions for influencing European policies. It is demanding that the VAT exemption is maintained for air traffic, given the specificity of regional airports in the possible slot allocations and that application of the European Emissions Trading Scheme is suspended until the International Civil Aviation Organisation has developed a framework for environmental protection at an international level. (MD/transl.fl)