Political Quotes

“Recently, the European Union took the first step in adopting a very discriminatory regulation that would effectively ban most U.S.-based stage 3 hushkitted and certain U.S. re-engined aircraft from operation in the European Union, even though they meet all international noise standards. Hushkitted aircraft are older aircraft that have what is essentially a muffler added so that they can meet the current stage 3 noise requirements. Re-engined aircraft are stage 2 aircraft that have stage 3 engines added to meet current noise requirements. Now, the proposed European Union regulation, on which they have already taken the first step, limits the number of possible buyers of U.S.-owned hushkitted and re-engined aircraft. Under the regulation, the European Union operators can only buy these hushkitted and re-engined aircraft from other European operators. They cannot buy them from American operators. In addition, the regulation significantly increases U.S. costs of operation in European Union countries. New U.S. operations will have to be flown by aircraft originally manufactured to meet stage 3 requirements even though the retrofitted engines meet all the requirements. U.S. hushkitted aircraft will not be allowed to fly in Europe. This is blatant, outrageous discrimination.”