During 2004, the treatment of air transport in the Kyoto
protocol on atmospheric emissions was one of the most important
issues discussed by the ICAO’s environmental committee
(CAEP) and the organisation’s general conference.
The European community is seeking a decision that would
allow it to employ its own financial guidance methods. The
airline industry is prominently in favour of linking air
transport to a system of open emissions trading.
The CAA and the Ministry of Transport and Communications
are keeping track of international decisions since the significance
for Finnish overseas traffic of steering mechanisms for
various kinds of emissions would be greater than for competitor
countries because of the greater distances our airlines
have to fly.
The Aviation Act incorporated a 2002 EU regulation concerning
the procedure for assessing whether operational restrictions
should be imposed because of aircraft noise, and the ways
to implement them. At the same time, the principle of taking
a balanced approach to noise control was confirmed. In practice
this means that operational restrictions should not be seen
as the only means of controlling noise. We need also to
look at land use planning, reducing aircraft noise emissions
and flight procedures as possible methods.
The full CAA environmental report for 2004 is published
separately.
