A readiness by the European Commission (EC) to consider possible US amendments to its new hushkit regulations does not mean that the issue will cease to cause friction between the two sides.
"The Americans may suggest amendments which we find unacceptable," warns a well-placed official in Brussels.
The new regulation banning the addition of new hushkitted aircraft to European registers and excluding such aircraft entirely after 2002 was to have been approved by Europe's Council of Transport Ministers at the end of March but was delayed by a month while negotiations on amendments continued with the USA.
Washington objects that the regulation could reduce the value of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas aircraft with hushkits and has threatened to ban the Aerospatiale/ British Aerospace Concorde from the USA in retaliation.
The EC insists that its sole concern is noise and points out that the regulation's impact on the value of hushkitted aircraft is not relevant because such aircraft are being phased out of European operations and are of little interest to European airlines.
EC Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock's office has indicated that Brussels is prepared to consider US amendments to the regulation if they do not undermine its purpose. The USA was not expected to suggest any changes to the original text before 29 April, when the measure was to be put before a European foreign ministers' meeting.
Source: Airline Business
