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Air Transport Association

Statement by Carol B. Hallett

President and CEO, Air Transport Association

House Science Subcommittee on Energy and Environment

October 9, 1997

Chairman Calvert and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to share the views of the Air Transport Association of America' regarding the pending United Nations (UN) Global Climate Treaty. We greatly appreciate the leadership demonstrated by you and this committee in addressing the potential consequences of this protocol and its impact on the United States. It is our belief that national authority to impose greenhouse gas control measures for civil aviation under the proposed Kyoto protocol poses serious conflicts with the authority and competence of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN specialized agency for aviation, to establish uniform safety, certification, and environmental standards for international civil aviation.

Background

The 1944 Chicago Convention, to which 185 countries are now party, established ICAO as the UN agency with exclusive competence to promulgate rules governing all aspects of international aviation, from the operating rules of the air to the technical and safety aspects of aircraft design and manufacture. Under the Chicago Convention, all States must respect the licenses granted to their aircraft and crews in accordance with ICAO standards. ICAO standards are adopted by the ICAO Council, which is composed of 21 member nations elected by the entire ICAO membership.

Since 1977, ICAO has promulgated international emissions and noise standards for aircraft and aircraft engines that bind all member States. Proceedings are on-going to revise these standards when warranted by technology advancements, as well as to develop operational policies and procedures to mitigate further the environmental impacts of civil aviation. The U.S. airline and aerospace manufacturing industries participate extensively in these ICAO proceedings. The attached statement by ICAO Council President Dr. Assad Kotaite to the Ninth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on September 15, 1997, reflects ICAO's continued commitment to establishing stringent environmental standards for civil aviation, specifically addressing stratospheric ozone depletion, climate change, ground level air quality,

'U.S. flag members are: Alaska Airlines, Aloha Airlines, American Airlines, American Trans Air, America West Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, DHL Airways, Emery Worldwide, Evergreen International Airlines, Federal Express, Hawaiian Airlines, KIWI Airlines, Midwest Express, Northwest Airlines, Polar Air Cargo, Reeve Aleutian Airways, Southwest Airlines, Trans World Airlines, United Airlines, United Parcel Service, and US Airways. Our associate members include: Air Canada, Canadian Airlines International, and KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines.

Air Transport Association of America

1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW - Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20004-1707

and aircraft noise concerns.

Under the Chicago Convention, member nations may refuse to allow airlines from noncompliant countries access to national airspace. For example, in the area of safety, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) uses ICAO standards to evaluate the safety of foreign carrier operations. If it concludes that an ICAO member country does not adhere to ICAO safety standards, the FAA suspends or conditions operations to U.S. territory of carriers from that country. The Department of Transportation (DOT), which confers economic operating permits on foreign carriers, may withhold such permits in reliance on FAA findings. Similarly, the DOT and FAA monitor compliance of foreign airports with ICAO security standards. FAA routinely notifies the public concerning non-compliant nations and airports; and, in at least one instance (Nigeria), service from the United States has been suspended.

In the environmental area, compliance with ICAO emissions and noise standards is especially high because commercial aircraft and engines are manufactured by a handful of companies whose products are marketed, and therefore must be acceptable, throughout the world. Since present-day aircraft technology has already achieved significant gains in fuel efficiency (ie., a 50 percent reduction in fuel burn per passenger/cargo ton mile in the past 25 years), the greatest potential for significant further progress in reducing aircraft greenhouse gas emissions rests with global modernization of the air traffic management (ATM) system. Realization of ATM efficiencies -- on the order of 17 percent reduced greenhouse gas emissions from aviation in the United States and 12 percent or more worldwide -- requires worldwide adoption of uniform ICAO operating and equipment standards to ensure global inter-operability. Conversely, a multitude of fragmented and inconsistent national measures for control of aviation greenhouse gas emissions will sub-optimize any global environmental benefits by fostering system and operational inefficiencies.

Aviation Industry Concerns

Unilateral national flexibility in devising greenhouse gas emission control measures is incompatible with the international regulatory framework for civil aviation. Moreover, national emission reduction targets, if applied to the aviation sector, will result in loss of the economic benefits of airline industry deregulation.

ICAO has exclusive competence to set standards for aircraft emissions. Every change to an operating procedure or aircraft and engine certification requirement designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions must be carefully analyzed to ensure that it will not compromise safety or increase other harmful emissions or noise. This technological balancing requires significant engineering expertise and global uniformity. Also, as noted by the FCCC's Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), aircraft emissions are difficult to allocate among countries, because they occur for the most part outside national boundaries. The SBSTA examined several allocation options and recommended that the international community's responsibility for addressing emissions from international aviation bunker fuel should be recognized, noting the important role of ICAO. The Administration's International Air Transportation Policy Statement also acknowledges that the aviation sector is truly global. Accordingly, an extremely high degree of international cooperation and uniformity in operating rules is required for airlines to operate efficiently within a complex international air transportation system.

A multilateral approach to control of aircraft emissions, including greenhouse gases, is the only approach consistent with international law. In order to ensure a level playing field, the Chicago Convention and the framework of approximately 80 U.S. bilateral air transport agreements strictly limit unilateral State authority to restrict or tax air services. Any national approach addressing greenhouse gas emission reduction goals through aviation taxation or operating restrictions would violate bilateral and multilateral obligations. Fair access to facilities necessary to operate an agreed route is an inherent part of the rights guaranteed to airlines in international air services agreements.

U.S. competitiveness in civil aviation would be severely impaired by the proposed Kyoto protocol. Many foreign airline competitors would be exempt from national restrictions, while non-exempt nations would be encouraged to take actions in the name of environmental protection that favor national carriers. Discriminatory treatment of U.S. airlines by foreign governments is a serious concern recognized in U.S. law and the Administration's Air Transportation Policy Statement. U.S. trading partners have proven remarkably adept in manipulating aviation noise and emissions requirements to advance national economic interests. The United States must ensure that the FCCC protocol does not exacerbate this situation.

Additionally, national flexibility in addressing aviation greenhouse gas emissions is inconsistent with U.S. domestic aviation policy. In light of the remarkable fuel efficiency gains already realized through advances in jet engine technology, if binding national limits are applied to civil aviation, the United States will be forced to reduce the industry's fuel usage through heavy taxation or issuance of fuel or operating permits. Such "re-regulation" of air transport services will destroy the significant economic benefits conferred on the U.S. economy in the past 20 years as a direct result of airline deregulation. According to the DOT, U.S. consumers save $6.3 billion annually in airline fares due to deregulation.

In closing, the airline industry has a long history of working to preserve and protect our environment for future generations. We remain open to constructive ideas that may achieve our mutual objectives, but the industry is extremely concerned that the U.S. position on the climate proposal does not address our unique circumstances. The airline industry would be unalterably opposed to ratification of any treaty or protocol which does not adequately address the concerns of global aviation.

Thank you again, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to share the views of the Air Transport Association of America. I respectfully request that my entire statement and supporting materials be included in the permanent record.

ICAO.

Statement by the President of the Council of the

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Dr. Assad Kotaitė,
to the Ninth Mesting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol

(Montreal, 15 September 1997)

It is both an honour and a pleasure for me to address this Ninth Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol.

On behalf of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), I would like to welcome you to our new Headquarters premises. Ten years ago, in the former ICAO Headquarters on Sherbrooke Street, the Montreal Protocol was adopted. I am therefore delighted that you have chosen to return to ICAO on the occasion of your tenth anniversary.

I would like to take the opportunity of your presence here to familiarise you with ICAO'ı activities of relevance to protecting the ozone layer and to bring to your attention some institutional issues that I believe will need to be addressed.

I will begin by explaining what ICAO is currently doing. The Organization was originally created in 1944 under the Convention on International Civil Aviation. Today, 185 States work within ICAO towards ensuring the safe and orderly growth of international civil aviation throughout the world.

Much of ICAO's work is based on the need for standardization worldwide. This is achieved through adoption by the ICAO Council of International Standards and Recommended Practices as Annexes to the Convendon on International Civil Aviation. Annex 16 to the Convention contains ICAO's environmental protection Standards, concerning both aircraft noise and aircraft engine emissions. The Standards for engine emissions were first adopted in 1981 and were originally simed at improving local air quality near airports. They apply to new aircraft engines and cover oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons and smoke.

However, as you are aware, the focus of attention regarding aircraft engine emissions has recently changed, with the emergence of new environmental problems of a global nature to which these emissions may be contributing. These include not only depletion of the ozone layer, but also climate change and long-range air pollution.

This whole subject of aircraft emissions, both at the local and global levels, is being given considerable attention by ICAO. At the present time, we need better scientific information on aviation's impact in order to be able to develop appropriate policy responses. With this in mind, the ICAO Assembly has called for close co-operation with other organizations involved in the definition of environmental problems in the upper atmosphere, in particular with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Meteorological Organization (WMƆ) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change' (IPCC).

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We were therefore pleased to see the decision by the Meeting of the Parties in December 1995 to request your Scientific Assessment Panel "to work as appropriate" with ICAO on the subject of aircraft emissions. More recently, in September 1996, at ICAO's request, the IPCC agreed to undertake a Special Report on Aviation and the Global Atmosphere, in collaboration with your Scientific Assessment Panel and with ICAO involvement. I wish to expresa ICAO's appreciation for this considerable effort that is being made to shed light on sviation's impact.

Once the findings of the Special Report are known, probably in the first half of 1999, the key questions will become "Are additional policies and measures to control emissions from civil aviation necessary? And, if so, in what forum should they be developed?”

ICAO, through its Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP), has already been exploring means of reducing the impact of aircraft engine emissions, for example through further development of the emission Standards in Annex 16, through improved operational measures and through the possible introduction of emission-related charges.

Consequently, if additional policies and measures to control emissions are necessary, ICAO is well placed to respond to this challenge. However, other United Nations policy-making bodies with mandates covering emissions in general - such as your own Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol, and also the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - would clearly also have a legitimate interest in ensuring that the outcome is consistent with their aims and objectives.

We therefore need to have a common understanding of who would be doing what - an understanding based on an acknowledgment of each body's mandate, mutual co-operation and an avoidance of duplication.

Since, as far as I am aware, you have yet to consider this institutional question within the Montreal Protocol process, I would urge you to do so.

In particular, I would like to draw your attention to the possibility of a new generation of supersonic aircraft. It is hoped that the Special Report may be able to give us some guidance as to whether such aircraft would have a significant impact on stratospheric ozone depletion. This is likely to be a crucial factor for the aerospace industry in commercial decisions as to whether or not to go ahead. I therefore believe that there is a need for ICAO and the Montreal Protocol process to work together on the environmental acceptabilky of a possible new generation of supersonic aircraft. ICAO is already working on some aspects of this question, such as methodologies to calculate emissions from these aircraft.

I would like to leave you with these thoughts and to assure you of ICAO's willingness to explore these institutional issues with you as soon as you are ready to do so.

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