Eurocontrol should beware of becoming a tax collector. That is what it would be if it were to use its Central Route Charges Office (CRCO) as a means of collecting from airlines not just their air navigation charges, but also an environmental levy related to distance flown, aircraft weight and - wait for it - the flight level at which the aircraft is cleared to fly, which may not be the pilot's choice.
Eurocontrol is being offered a can of worms and invited to open it. It should resist. The Single European Sky legislation gives the agency some regulatory powers, but these are strictly to do with its designated task of defining and implementing the standards for Europe's air navigation service providers.
It should not take on tasks outside these. Eurocontrol knows that its most effective contribution to more environmentally sustainable aviation is to make air traffic management dramatically more efficient. That should be its only contribution to the environment.
No-one loves a tax collector or a collaborator, and this job would make Eurocontrol both. If the agency is to orchestrate the most efficient future air traffic management, it needs the goodwill of all stakeholders - particularly the airlines and the air navigation service providers. The European Commission can do what it likes with the CRCO's data, but Eurocontrol should stay out of this.
Source: Flight International
