Ryanair has called on the EU to scrap its failed EU ETS scheme, after it was forced to ‘exempt’ foreign airlines from the scheme after staunch opposition from US and Asian airlines and governments.

Ryanair said that ETS is now just another tax of Europe’s air passengers, which increases the costs of European aviation, making it anti-competitive, while doing nothing to address EU carbon emissions.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:

“Ryanair is calling on the EU to remove aviation from the ETS scheme after it announced foreign carrier would be ‘exempt’ from the scheme, because they refused to pay for the misplaced environmental guilt of EU tree-huggers.

Ryanair does not believe that European aviation should be included in the ETS scheme since it accounts for less than 2% of the EU’s CO2 emissions. This continuation of this eco-looney tax will damage traffic, tourism, European competiveness and jobs at a time when no other economic block is including aviation in their ETS schemes.”