Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 15 (IANS) With plans underway to control carbon dioxide emissions in all EU airports by 2012, IBS Software Services has begun working on a new IT tool to help airlines control their pollution levels.

The tool, which would help in finding exactly how much pollution is caused by each airline, would be ready in three years, said IBS CEO V.K. Mathews. He added that it would be an extension of software already developed by the company, headquartered in the nearby Technopark IT campus.

Airlines falling below the desired level would have two options, either paying a fine or buying credits from airlines which are less polluting.

There are around 600 airlines in the world and the aviation industry is currently seen as a severely polluting industry, said Mathews.

"The emission rates are directly proportional to the load, weather conditions and the usage of the aircraft, which means the older the aircraft, the more polluting it becomes. With the EU regulations coming into place, each airline would be assessed for their emissions and fines imposed for polluting airlines and credits given for less polluting airlines," Mathews told IANS.

"We will have an online portal where it will display all the carbon credits for the airlines. It would be cheaper to buy excess credits from other airlines, rather than paying fines," he said.

Emirates, Air Canada, Iberia Airlines (Spain), South African Airways, Qantas, Air New Zealand and Qatar Airways currently use IBS products.