Industry report suggests airlines made profits from contested EU carbon tax
Skift Take
Kinks in getting the emissions trading scheme up and running may have slanted in airlines’ favor this year, but airlines can only keep that up by continuing to increase fares faster than the taxes.
Airlines made windfall profits of up to €1.36bn (£1.2bn) last year from a EU carbon tax they claimed would impose crippling costs on industry, according to a report into the measure's impact on the industry.
The EU backed off on plans to charge airlines for their carbon pollution after ferocious opposition from American, Chinese, Russian and other airlines, which argued the charge would cost the industry billions.
Congress passed a law last November shielding US carriers from paying the tax. The lobby group, Airlines for America, claimed at the time that the EU law would cost more than $3bn by the end of the decade.
Now, it turns out, airlines made €872m from the carbo
