The heads of some of Europe's largest airlines on Wednesday hit back against efforts to discourage Europeans from traveling by air, arguing the industry was making huge strides in cutting its carbon footprint and that there was no shame in air travel.

The share prices of Europe's largest airlines fell when France announced a new tax on air travel, the latest move by an EU government to discourage flying, which activists say is a major contributor to climate change.

"We are sensitive to the criticism that we are getting a free ride on the environment because frankly it is not true," Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary said at a press conference in Brussels.

"We have a very good case to push back against these NGOs like the flight shame movement because actually this is an industry that is performing remarkably well and meeting its obligations towards a greener, cleaner planet," he said.

O'Leary was speaking as chairman of lobby group A4E (Airlines for Europe), which includes the continent's largest airline groups, Lufthansa and British Airways owner IAG.

The group argues that aviation has roughly halved its carbon footprint per flight over the past three decades; It is spending billions of euros on more fuel-efficient aircraft and is investing in less-damaging aviation fuel technologies.

O'Leary said his airline had paid over 500 million euros($563.58 million) in environmental taxes on a fuel bill of 2 billion euros last year, equivalent to around 4 euros per passenger. "We are paying on behalf of our customers a penal level of aviation taxes and these taxes are continuing to rise." 

The industry's image has been damaged in recent months by the rise of the Swedish-born anti-flying movement and the concept of "flight shame."

Commercial air travel accounts for about 2.5 percent of global carbon emissions today but without concrete preventative steps, that number will rise as global air travel increases.

The aviation industry has set out a four-pronged plan to achieve carbon-neutral growth from 2020 and halve net emissions from 2005 levels by 2050.

Airline leaders, however, acknowledge that they have struggled to articulate their plans in a way that resonates with the public.

"I am not ashamed to be in this industry," said IAG chief executive Willie Walsh at the same briefing. "This is an industry that has a good story to tell; we just need people who are prepared to listen to understand the facts."

Walsh, who like O'Leary is from Ireland, said people living on islands and in countries on the periphery of Europe often have no real alternative to flying and that taxes could undermine the competitiveness of these regions.

A4E is also lobbying for the reform of the continent's air traffic control system, something it says could immediately reduce carbon emissions from the industry in Europe by 10 percent.

Environmental NGOs such as Transport and Environment (T&E) have long criticized the EU for being a "kerosene tax haven."

"Europe is a sorry story. Even the US, Australia and Brazil, where climate change deniers are in charge, tax aviation more than Europe does," T&E's Bill Hemmings said.

The US, Australia and Japan charge excise duty on jet fuel, a European Commission report showed, but not one EU country taxes kerosene.