EU goes forward with "hushkit" ban

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 6/1/2000

Add aviation to the growing list of subjects giving rise to trade disputes between the European Union (EU) and the United States. The EU in May implemented a ban on the registration of aircraft fitted with "hushkits"-devices that reduce noise caused by the ejection of aircraft exhaust. The ban also would prohibit retrofitted aircraft that are not registered in EU countries from landing after 2002 but would allow EU-registered aircraft to continue operating after that date.

U.S. airlines have relied on hushkits to bring their aircraft up to quieter "Stage 3" noise levels as required by federal law and to comply with noise standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). EU officials maintain, however, that hushkitted planes use more fuel, create more pollution, and are not as quiet as new aircraft.

There's a lot at stake for the U.S. aviation industry, which has spent an estimated $100 billion to upgrade its entire fleet. Both the industry and the federal government say there is no scientific basis for the EU's claims and question its motives. "The EU claims that the reason for this regulation is noise," says Carol Hallett, president and CEO of the Air Transport Association, which represents U.S. airlines. "If they are really interested in reducing aircraft noise, then they should have finished their adoption of an all-Stage 3 fleet just as the United States has done."

U.S. and European negotiators had seemed to be nearing agreement on the withdrawal or postponement of the hushkit ban. But the United States forced the issue in mid-March when it filed a complaint with ICAO and requested a dispute resolution. At a press briefing in Brussels in April, David Traynham of the Federal Aviation Administration said that the United States would rely on the ICAO dispute-resolution process rather than on direct negotiations with the EU to resolve the impasse.

Some observers suggest that the EU's attempt to regulate aircraft technology will benefit European aircraft manufacturers at U.S. manufacturers' expense. In an opinion piece in the Financial Times, Clyde Prestowitz, president of the Economic Strategy Institute in Washington, D.C., and a former U.S. trade representative, wrote that the dispute was symptomatic of the recent deterioration of trade relations between the United States and Europe. If the hushkit ban were allowed to stand, he said, the result would be that "a technology that allows airlines to meet established guidelines is prohibited, and the alternative yields an illegitimate competitive advantage to the home team."