Who Gets the Credit?

Environmental regulations are coming, sooner probably than later. This Administration is committed to it, and ground support equipment providers need to stay on top of what’s proposed and who gets the credit for what. If the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme goes into effect, as scheduled, in 2012, the U.S. aviation sector will be the first U.S. sector to feel the effects of emissions regulations. As it now stands, the EU is not going to give U.S. airlines any exemption to its regulations which would apply to flights in and out of its 27 member countries. This means that U.S. airlines will have to reduce carbon emissions by 3 percent in 2012 and 5 percent a year thereafter.   With pressure on the airlines to reduce carbon emissions, airlines are going to be scrutinizing where those savings can come from. Chances are they will be looking very, very closely at ground operations — in part, because it’s then someone else’s problem, but also because the airlines’ ability to reduce aircraft fuel consumption is limited. And it is, of course, aircraft fuel consumption that drives the carbon emissions the most in an airline. New fuel efficient engines may just be coming online in 2012 but are unlikely to be widely in use. New biofuels are being tested as I write. Some that are deemed experimental now may be available for use in 2012. But that’s still an unknown.   So ground operations are going to be a sure target for pressure from the airlines. GSE providers need to make sure that they scrutinize contract provisions related to emissions cutbacks to make sure that they know what is expected of them. Also they need to make sure they don’t unwittingly forfeit credits they may eventually need themselves.