According to the German Emissions Trading Authority, fines exceeding €5.3m (approx. US$5.9m) have been imposed on the 44 airlines named, most of whom are small aircraft operators. Surprisingly, two major German airlines, Air Berlin and Condor, have also found their way on to the list because of small discrepancies in reporting (according to the carriers) and have therefore received only small fines. Notably absent were Air China and Aeroflot, both of whom operated flights within the European Economic Area (EEA) in 2012 (and thus are still subject to the reduced scope of the EU ETS), but whose governments have not permitted them to comply.
Consistent with the EU directive, EU member states must publish the names of the aircraft operators they oversee that are in breach of requirements, and enforce the surrender of sufficient allowances to cover their emissions. However, until now, they have not done so and two years after the allowances for 2012 should have been submitted, an unspecified number of airlines and smaller aircraft operators still remain non-compliant.
