London, 27 September 2011

airberlin and Commerzbank have executed the first trade of EU Aviation Allowances (AEUA’s). The transaction, for a substantial volume of AEUA’s with delivery in December 2012 at an undisclosed price, is an important milestone in the development of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and sets the stage for the inclusion of the aviation sector into the EU ETS.

Aviation will join the EU ETS in 2012 and all airlines arriving and departing from European airports are required to surrender carbon certificates and allowances in line with their actual CO2 emissions.

“We are very pleased to have been able to execute our first EU Aviation Allowances transaction,” said Steffen Rösler, Head of Treasury at airberlin. “Trading AEUA’s beside EUAs, CERs and ERUs will give us more flexibility and the opportunity to minimise our cost of compliance.”

Airline operators are able to fulfil their obligations by surrendering EU Aviation Allowances (AEUA), EU Allowances (EUA) and up to a predefined limit with Certified Emission Reductions (CER) and Emission Reduction Units (ERU).

Ingo Ramming, Co-Head of Commodity Solutions at Commerzbank commented, "The EU Emissions Trading Scheme will bring new challenges to the aviation sector and a proactive approach is required to manage carbon related risks. We are pleased that we were able to support our client in this field and have been the first bank to enter into an AEUA transaction. “

Ends --