Paragraph 9 of the Assembly Resolution A39-3 determines the participation of States in CORSIA. Unlike the voluntary participation of States in the pilot and first phases from 2021 to 2026, the 2nd phase of CORSIA from 2027 applies to all Member States, with two categories of exemptions based on aviation-related criteria, and socio-economic criteria. These criteria for the exemption of States from the CORSIA offsetting requirements in the 2nd phase is defined in A39-3 paragraph 9 e).
For aviation-related criteria, there are two thresholds which are:
- States with an individual share of international aviation activities in Revenue Tonne Kilometers (RTKs), in year 2018 below 0.5 per cent of total RTKs; and
- States that are not part of the list of States that account for 90 per cent of total RTKs when sorted from the highest to the lowest amount of individual RTKs.
Revenue Tonne Kilometers or RTKs is the utilized (or sold) capacity for passengers and cargo expressed in metric tonnes, multiplied by the distance flown. In other words the RTK levels correspond to the volume of air transport activity. As an aircraft operator carries more passengers and cargo for a longer distance, the RTK levels of the operator get higher. A State’s RTK represent the total RTK levels of all aircraft operators registered to that State. Annual RTK data is being reported from Member States to ICAO as part of ICAO Statistics Programme, and published in the Annual Report of ICAO Council. RTK data for the year 2018 will be used for the purposes of determining the exemptions of States from offsetting requirements in the 2nd phase of CORSIA.
A State’s individual RTK share is calculated by dividing the State’s RTKs by the total RKTs of all States. Those States who have an individual RTK share below 0.5 percent of the total RTK, will be exempt from offsetting requirements, unless the cumulative RTK share is less than 90 percent.
The cumulative RTK share is calculated by sorting the individual RTK shares from the highest to lowest, then successively increasing the value by summing the RTK shares from highest to lowest until the value reaches 90%. The values of all States are considered for this calculation, regardless if a State might be exempted from offsetting requirements in CORSIA afterwards.
In other words, a State whose individual RTK share is less than 0.5 percent but is part of the 90% cumulative RTK, is included in the 2nd phase. A State whose individual RTK share is less than 0.5 percent and not part of the 90% cumulative RTK, is exempted from offsetting requirements in the 2nd phase. The goal is to cover at least 90% of the international aviation activities in the 2nd phase of CORSIA.
The second set of exemption criteria from offsetting requirements is based on socio-economic criteria. These States are defined as: Least Developed Countries (LDCs); Small Island Developing States (SIDS); and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs). Regardless of the level of international aviation RTK share, these LDCs, SIDS and LLDCs are also exempted from offsetting requirements in the 2nd phase of CORSIA.
Nevertheless, these exempted States from offsetting requirements by aviation-related criteria and socio-economic criteria are still encouraged to voluntarily participate in CORSIA.