Ethics Newsline®

BRUSSELS
The European Union announced a one-month delay of its controversial ban on noisy U.S. airplanes, allowing further negotiations and forestalling a possible trade dispute with the United States.

The EU ban forbids the use of older U.S. planes fitted with “hush kits” to reduce noise pollution. EU legislators say the planes are still too noisy, too inefficient, and too polluting to meet EU standards.

U.S. officials have blasted the ban as discriminatory, saying that it favors newer European aircraft over older commercial U.S. planes, which have been retrofitted with hush kits and new engines to meet international noise standards.

The U.S. government, which has threatened a retaliatory ban on the Concorde jet, insists that the EU measure would cost U.S. businesses between $1 billion and $2 billion, the Reuters news agency reported.

The United States wants the EU to join in crafting new international standards that would eliminate the need for the EU ban, now scheduled for implementation at the end of April.