Last Friday the European Union acted to force any airlines that take off or land in the European Union to purchase carbon emissions permits, a move that will cost the industry over $4 billion annually. This decision is unfortunate for the airlines, as rising fuel prices and falling passenger traffic are already taxing the struggling industry. Additionally, consumers will likely suffer as choices are limited when amaller non-EU based carriers choose to abandon the European Union all together to avoid the costly fees and ticket prices increase dramatically to cover the cost to the airlines that continue to fly in the European Union.
It will be interesting to see in several years, when man made global warming is no longer the crisis du jour, if regulations like this will be repealed. If it is generating any revenue for the government, my guess would be no. For the full article on this legislation click here.