The 2008 eu directive extending the eu emissions trading system to international civil aviation sparked an uproar at the International Civil Aviation Organization (icao). The “crisis” between the eu and other members of the icao (in particular emerging powers) unsettled an organization accustomed to quiet consensus. Tensions receded after the eu was isolated at the icao Assembly in 2013, and its directive suspended for non-European flights. Since then, icao has overcome a seemingly intractable conflict to work more constructively on mbms, while the parallel work on co2 standards for airplanes has continued largely unaffected. Relying on interviews and original documents, this paper analyzes the motives behind the conflict through the lense of three theoretical approaches, and underlines the effectiveness of world views shared by the aviation industry.