Memorandum submitted by easyJet
I would like to take this opportunity to draw
your attention to the report "Economic consideration of extending
the EU ETS to include aviation" by Frontier Economics and
prepared for the European Low Fares Association (ELFAA) in March
this year [not printed].
easyJet is a member of ELFAA which represents
10 European low fare airlines including Ryanair. Low fare airlines
now account for 30% of intra European scheduled airline passenger
journeys.
We take our environmental responsibilities seriously,
indeed the low fares business model is designed to be economically
and environmentally efficient—we fly the newest and cleanest
aircraft, we fly people directly to their destinations, avoiding
the need for transit flights through hub airports and we have
the highest seating densities and load factors in the industry
ensuring that emissions per passenger are kept to a minimum.
We often hear the accusation that aviation growth
is out of control. This simply is not true. Economic growth and
aviation growth track very closely together. At an EU level, aviation
DIRECTLY contributes over 3 million jobs and over €200 billion
of GDP. In turn, there are significant indirect benefits to many
other sectors, especially tourism (and regional development).
As a result the economic contribution of aviation for every kg
of CO2 emitted is greater than road transport and the
electricity generating industry.
Finally, we have been supportive of the desire
to include aviation into the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. However
this is a complex issue and our objective is to ensure that the
most environmentally efficient behaviour is rewarded and that
the environmental objectives are achieved without harming the
economic development of the aviation industry.
May 2006
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