Brussels, 13/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - Three environmental defence NGOs, Friends of the Earth-Europe, Transport and Environment (T&E) and the Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) welcome the European Parliament's adoption of the Lucas Report on air transport and the environment. In a press release, the NGOs stress that the MEPs have called for the establishment of a precise timetable for the adoption of measures such as pricing transport in relation to polluting emissions, stricter restrictions on the most noisy aircraft and night flights, tax on kerosene, tickets, the purchase of new aircraft. "The root of the problem is that air transport has been able to grow at two to three times the rate of other transport modes, because of massive subsidies" stresses T&E Director, Beatrice Schell, adding that "the aviation industry is subsidised in three ways: indirectly through tax exemptions, by not paying for environmental costs and through direct subsidies for airport expansion". According to the NGOs, "the current tax exemption on kerosene alone costs European taxpayers at least 11 billion euro annually".