EU approves SriLankan Emissions Monitoring Plan

The European Union’s competent authority has approved SriLankan Airlines Annual Emission Monitoring Plan (AEM) to monitor exhaust emissions of its fleet.

SriLankan is one of the first airlines in Asia to obtain approval for its AEM, continuing its pioneering role in conservation among airlines in the region.

The AEM is a mandatory requirement by the European Union (EU) for all airlines flying into European airports. SriLankan currently operates to five European cities London, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome and Milan.

SriLankan has now begun monitoring emissions by its aircraft fleet from 1st January 2010 as per the AEM.

SriLankans Aviation Fuel Manager, Captain Anushad Liyanagoda, said: It is significant that while most airlines outsourced the preparation of their respective AEMs to aviation or environmental consulting firms, we at SriLankan developed our own, and it was accepted without modification by the Environment Agency of the UK, which was the competent authority appointed by the EU.

Each airline is required to submit an annual report of its emissions to the EU from 2010, which will be verified by an independent organisation accredited by the EU. SriLankans AEM has been designed for a two-year period covering 2010 and 2011.

The EU is in fact a global watchdog on this vital subject. It’s not just the emissions that aircraft produce over Europe, but the total emissions that an airlines’ entire fleet produces throughout the world that the EU looks at, Capt. Liyanagoda said.

The EU will be assigning an Emission Allowance to each airline, depending on the data gathered by an airlines AEM.

This will allow each airline annual emissions up to the limit of its Emission Allowance. Any emissions above the allowance limit would incur heavy financial penalties for an airline.

Obtaining this Emission Allowance is also a complex process. The first 85 percent of the Emissions Allowance is given if an airline prepares a second monitoring plan, known as the Tonne Kilometre Plan. SriLankan did so simultaneously with the first plan, allowing it to obtain the free 85 percent.

The balance 15 percent of the allowance can also be obtained free of charge if an airline practises environment-friendly aircraft operations.

SriLankan has been pioneering Planet Friendly Flights since March 2009.