The U.S. airline industry has officially abandoned its unsuccessful legal challenge to the European Union's emissions trading plan.

The move coincided with a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee roundtable discussion on the E.U. scheme this morning in which lawmakers voiced their opposition to the program.

The High Court in London, where Airlines for America (until recently known as the Air Transport Association of America) had lodged its complaint, was due to have a hearing on the case tomorrow.

But Airlines for America announced yesterday that it has withdrawn its challenge. The move is largely symbolic, as the London court was bound by a European Court of Justice decision on the issue from last year.

In December, the European court ruled on the key legal issue in finding that the plan was not in conflict with international law (Greenwire, Dec. 21, 2011).

The E.U. plan, known as the Emissions Trading System (ETS), took effect on Jan. 1. All airlines landing or taking off anywhere in the European Union are affected, although airlines will not have to pay anything until next year.

Carbon emissions from airplanes will initially be capped at 97 percent of the 2004 to 2006 levels. To begin with, airlines will have to buy 15 percent of their emissions certificates at auction.

Airlines for America sought to put a positive spin on the latest development, saying the case had served a purpose in terms of highlighting widespread international opposition to the program. The U.S. government is among its critics, as is China.

The legal challenge highlighted concerns that the program "violates international law and is an exorbitant money grab, which are now key points in the governments' unified opposition to the scheme," said the group's president, Nicholas Calio. "There is a clear path for the United States to force the E.U. to halt the scheme and protect U.S. sovereignty, American consumers, jobs and international law."

At the roundtable in the House today, Julie Oettinger, assistant administrator for policy, international affairs and environment at the Federal Aviation Administration, said that "the vast majority of the rest of the world is really aligned in opposition against the European Union, really for legal and policy reasons."

If a solution is not found, "the consequences could be grave," she added.

Nancy Young, vice president of environmental affairs at Airlines for America, said that "strong opposition" to the program was having an effect.

Environmental groups that had intervened in the case, including the Environmental Defense Fund and Earthjustice, put a different spin on the airlines' move, saying in a joint statement today that the entire case was "late and ill-conceived."

The groups said the airlines should "support a global deal for aviation" in light of recent comments made by Raymond Benjamin, the secretary-general of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations agency that handles global aviation matters. In December, Benjamin said ICAO was planning to create an international carbon market for the airline industry (ClimateWire, Dec. 1).