MILAN (Reuters – The European Union won’t relax its aviation sector sustainability targets despite the Ukraine conflict, a spike in fuel prices and other factors. This was the top transport official of the bloc said Friday.

Henrik Hololei, Director General of Mobility and Transport at the EU Commission, stated that although there are many new challenges, they do not disappear. Making aviation sustainable will be a difficult task.

Speaking at Eurocontrol’s webinar, he said it wasn’t the right time to “make compromises on sustainability”.

Hololei was answering to Rafal Miliczarski, chief executive at Polish carrier LOT. He urged the EU not to ignore the dramatic rise in kerosene and other costs, as well as the impact that the war has had on passengers’ willingness of travel.

Milczarski, who spoke at Eurocontrol, said that the industry’s involvement in carbon emission trading (which airlines use as a way to cover part of their greenhouse gases emissions), must be reconsidered, or at most temporarily suspended.

“EU FIT FOR55 (strategy), must be fundamentally reexamined… It is very idealistic, and I am afraid that it will kill a few airlines,” said the CEO of LOT.

Milczarski, speaking about LOT’s business itself, stated that due to Russia’s invasion Ukraine, the Polish carrier was forced to cancel many flights. This led to a decrease in bookings.

He said, “We don’t expect a great Summer at all.”

EU will maintain its policy of increasing the number of flights that take off and land in April from 50 to 64 percent to ensure they are maintained.