Ryanair has "condemned" the EU Commission's refusal to back proposals to extend the EU's emissions trading scheme to flights outside the European Union, a decision the Irish carrier said would mean short-haul passengers "pay an unfair burden".
Long-haul flights to and from the EU account for 54% of aviation-sector emissions but carry 6% of EU passengers, the airline said in a statement, in which it slammed what it labelled "an indefensible exemption for the richest passengers".
Chief executive Michael O'Leary said the Commission had left people from "peripheral member states" such as Cyprus, Ireland, Malta and Portugal, who he said "have no alternative to flying", facing having to foot the bill for the EU's emissions trading scheme, which is effectively a carbon tax.
"Yet again, Ursula von der Leyen and the EU Commission have let down Europe’s citizens and Europe’s environment”, O'Leary said.
The Commission argued that flights that originate from outside the EU or leave the bloc are covered by the United Nations/International Civil Aviation Organisation carbon offsetting system.