EU’S CARBON EMISSION TRADING SCHEME IS "BASELESS"

KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 (Bernama) -– The European Union’s (EU) carbon emission
trading scheme (EU ETS), which is being extended to the aviation industry and
comes into force in 2012 is baseless, says Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Chief
Executive Officer, Tengku Azmil Zahruddin.

"Once the EU ETS comes into force and when we fly to London, we have to pay
the EU a carbon tax, effectively all the way from Kuala Lumpur. How can
the EU make us pay for flying over Kuala Lumpur and South East Asia as
well. There is no basis for this," he said.

Such moves are clearly how politicians demonise the aviation
industry, said Azmil, who is also the Managing Director of the airline.

"We are not happy about it," he said, after delivering a speech on The
Journey of Success from Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to CEO at the CFO
Symposium 2010 on, "Unlocking The Corporate Value".

He said the aviation industry is often potrayed as great polluters but in
actual fact, the global airline industry only contributes 2-3 per cent of carbon
dioxide emissions.

"Hence, the extent to which airlines are being penalised, is I think
extremely disproportionate," he explained.

Besides a passenger voluntary carbon offset programme, MAS is also actively
promoting activities on the ground and in the air, to mitigate carbon dioxide
emission.

Its fuel efficiency programme, regular maintenance, recycling activities,
water and energy conservation initiatives, fleet renewal plan and route planning
are among the more prominent activities.

Earlier, during a question and answer session, Azmil said MAS had
learnt a lot from the low cost carriers, especially, AirAsia.

"Previously, our fleet turnaround time was 45 minutes while airlines like
Airsia, do it in 25 minutes. We learnt from them and now, our turnaround time is
30 minutes," he added.




Such initiatives, he said had enabled MAS to increase frequency,
especially in the domestic market by 13 per cent without adding new airplanes or
additional cost.

"Our domestic revenue also increased by 16 per cent in the fourth quarter of
2009," he highlighted.

On another development, Azmil said MAS has increased its frequency to
several destinations, such as Brisbane, Perth, Mali, Colombo, Johannesburg and
Paris.

It has also commenced flights to new destinations, namely to Dammam, Saudi
Arabia and is looking into other new sectors as well.

-- BERNAMA




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