EU airline measure flies into turbulence

Legal action planned to fight 'unreasonable' emission plan

SINGAPORE - China will not comply with EU demands asking Chinese airlines to follow Europe's lead in cutting greenhouse gas emissions by joining a carbon trading system, and will take legal action at a future date against the plan, a senior official with China's top aviation industry body said on Monday.

Chai Haibo, deputy secretary-general of the China Air Transport Association (CATA), told China Daily that the EU plan to unilaterally force countries into the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is "radically unreasonable", and his association is not going to join it or apply for an exemption.