The China Air Transport Association (CATA) said Thursday that the four major Chinese airlines it represents will not pay a new European Union tax aimed at cutting carbon emissions.
"The CATA, on behalf of Chinese airlines, is strongly against the EU's improper practice of unilaterally forcing international airlines into its ETS," CATA spokesman Cai Haibo said Thursday.
"If governments like the US, China and Russia can launch strong and forceful retaliatory measures, this will form enormous pressure and we hope could make the EU to change its mind," he added.
The CATA represents China's four major airlines, namely national flag-carrier Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines. It had said last year that the new EU tax would coast Chinese airlines about 95 million euros in additional annual costs.
Separately, Beijing reiterated its objection to the new EU carbon emission tax and urged the European Union to hold immediate talks with the concerned parties to resolve the issue as it is opposed by several other nations as well.
"China opposes the European Union's unilateral legislation. China has expressed to the EU our deep concern and opposition many times on a bilateral level. We hope the EU side will be prudent and practical and deal with this issue through consultations with all relevant parties," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Thursday.
The developments came days after EU's new emissions scheme involving airlines came into force on January 1, 2012. EU has said that it will not back down from the new tax despite mounting international pressure to do so.
The scheme charges airlines for the greenhouse gases emitted by their jets while landing or taking off on EU territory. It also allows EU to fine airlines that do not comply with the new tax and to ban them from flying into the region.
EU's new Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is an extension of a 2003 EU carbon trading scheme that covers factories, power plants and other installations. The EU scheme, which sets a cap on the level of emissions allowed, is a key part of EU's climate change policy aimed at reducing planet-warming emissions.
Under the scheme, the facilities that emit carbon more than their prescribed limit will have to buy permits to cover their emissions. If their emission is less than the allowed limit, they are allowed to sell spare permits from their emission allowances.
Several nations, including China, India, Canada and Russia have criticized the new EU tax. Last month, the European Court of Justice had rejected a legal challenge to the new EU carbon emission tax scheme by three US airlines backed by the governments of China and India.
The three American airlines, namely United and Continental which merged last year, and American Airlines, along with Air Transport Association of America had challenged the EU plan in a British court in 2009. The British court, however, referred the case to ECJ to determine whether the EU plan violated international agreements.
In their joint legal challenge, the petitioners had argued that EU's decision to penalize airlines for their greenhouse gas emissions breached the sovereignty of other countries and violated existing international aviation treaties. They stressed that the EU's emissions scheme will not be effective in reducing carbon emissions, but will lead to increased air fares.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.