Hundreds of aircraft operators in Europe and around the world were scrambling last month to meet the March 31 deadline to complete the requirements for monitoring, reporting and verification of 2010 engine emissions under the European Union’s emissions trading scheme (ETS). In scenes that have characterized just about every stage in the ETS process so far, the industry has been forced to deal with a chaotic and chronically confused administrative process that has turned the system into a costly fiasco.
Continued confusion about how the system is supposed to work in the various European states responsible for enforcement raised serious doubts as to whether all operators would be able to meet the compliance date. Those who do not comply face the prospect of stiff financial penalties and the threat of being barred from European airports. These threats come from European officials who have consistently failed to meet their own deadlines and who even now seem to be woefully ill prepared to implement ETS in a coherent way.
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