The EU ETS Directive requires aircraft operators that perform flights which depart from or arrive at an aerodrome situated in the territory of a Member State of the European Union to comply with requirements under the EU ETS, unless exempted pursuant to the criteria set out in the Directive.
Aircraft Operators may also fall under the scope of the emissions trading system of Switzerland; however, administration of an operator’s participation in that system remains within the responsibility of the Member State to which the operator is attributed pursuant to the EU ETS Directive (EU-Switzerland linking one-stop-shop arrangements).
The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction System for International Aviation (CORSIA) was set up by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to support the goals of the international aviation sector to contribute effectively towards global climate action. The CORSIA is implemented in the EU through rules set out in the EU ETS Directive.
Obligations
An aircraft operator is required to annually monitor its emissions from those flights that fall within the scope of the Directive, in accordance with a monitoring plan approved by the national Competent Authority of the State to which the operator is attributed, prepare an annual emissions report and get the report verified by an independent, accredited verifier prior to submission to the Competent Authority by the applicable deadline.
Common guidance on the monitoring and reporting and verification of annual emission reports may be found here.
The operator shall then surrender allowances in respect of reported emissions.
For activities falling within the scope of CORSIA, an offsetting requirement will be calculated for the operator, which shall determine the amount of offsetting that the operator shall have to fulfil in complying with that system.
The Directive provides for one EU Member State to be responsible for administering each aircraft operator participating in the EU ETS. Malta is the administering Member State in respect of:
a) any aircraft operator with a valid operating licence granted by the civil aviation authority of Malta (Civil Aviation Directorate – Transport Malta);
and
b) any operator that either holds an operating licence issued by a State that is not an EU Member State or that does not require an operating licence to perform aviation activities, and for whom Malta has been identified as being the EU Member State with the greatest attributed emissions from flights performed by that aircraft operator in the base year. For an aircraft operator that started operating to/from the European Union after 1 January 2006, the base year is the first calendar year of operation; for an operator that started operations in the Community before 1 January 2006, the base year is the calendar year starting on 1 January 2006.
The European Commission publishes, on an annual basis, a list of aircraft operators which operated an activity listed in Annex I on or after 1 January 2006, specifying the administering Member State for each aircraft operator.
It is important to note, that if an aircraft operator is not on the Commission list, it does not necessarily mean that the aircraft operator does not fall within scope of the EU ETS. If you are an aircraft operator, are not on the list, but do perform an aviation activity as listed in Annex I, then you are required to meet all relevant obligations set out by the EU ETS Directive.
Free allocation of allowances to eligible aircraft operators
Free allocations for eligible aircraft operators administered by Malta for the years 2024 to 2025 shall be thus:
|
Aircraft Operator |
2024 |
2025 |
|
Air Horizont Ltd |
6,021 |
3,820 |
|
AIR MALTA PLC |
52,948 |
33,595 |
|
Air X Charter Ltd |
6,905 |
4,381 |
|
Comlux Malta Ltd. |
892 |
566 |
|
Corendon Airlines Europe |
49,520 |
31,420 |
|
Elitavia Malta |
765 |
485 |
|
Flexjet Malta |
3,934 |
2,496 |
|
Freebird Airlines |
14,825 |
9,406 |
|
SkyUp MT Limited |
51 |
32 |
|
Vista Jet Ltd |
18,449 |
11,706 |
|
Wizz Air Malta Ltd |
258,156 |
163,801 |
Contacting the competent authority:
You may contact MRA on matters relating to aircraft operator sin the EU ETS and, or, CORSIA, at: ets-corsia@mra.org.mt.