As AFRAA’s 42nd general assembly winds up on Tuesday November 23 in Addis Ababa, it passed a resolution environment and emission and EU black list on safety.
The resolution disclosed its satisfaction with the ICAO assembly on aviation emissions. AGA (AFRAA’s General Assembly) said that it is aware of effective January 2012 emissions resulting from virtually all flights to/from and within the EU will be included in the EU emission trading scheme. The resolution said: “The majority of African carriers operating to EU countries will be covered under the EU-ETS scheme despite the minimum threshold set by the EU regulation. Recognizing the EU-ETS is contrary to principles of international law, the ICAO assembly resolution and not accepted by the majority of states outside the EU.”
AGA supports the ICAO global scheme to reduce emissions as well as IATA’s goal of carbon neutrality by the year 2020. AGA called up on the African governments to continue to oppose any unilateral imposition of environmental charges by state on international air transport. The AGA called up on the African Union (AU), AFCAC (African Civil Aviation Commission) and regional communities to work together to establish a common African response to the EU-ETS.
Airlines from 14 out of 20 countries in the EU blacklist of banned airlines are in the African countries. AGA admitted that Africa still faces serious safety challenges in the area of safety. However, it says the EU black list of airlines that are non-existent is adversely affecting African airline industry in general and does little to improve safety in the continent. The AGA called up on African government, whose states are in the blacklist, to take all the necessary measures to remove their country from the blacklist. It also called up on the AU and AFCAC to engage the EU with the view to find a mutually acceptable and agreed approach to jointly address safety concerns.