BRUSSELS, Oct 16 (Reuters) - European airlines urged

Brussels on Wednesday to do more to secure a level playing field

in the industry, complaining that Chinese rivals enjoy a huge

cost advantage because they can fly over Russia and do not face

extra environmental costs.

Action is all the more important because many carriers are

also facing delivery delays as planemakers Airbus and

Boeing ( BA ) struggle with supply chain problems and, in

Boeing's ( BA ) case, industrial action, the airlines said.

At an industry meeting in Brussels, Lufthansa CEO Carsten

Spohr said all flights into Europe should be required to avoid

Russian airspace to ensure fair competition.

"We are not allowed to cross Russia but Chinese carriers

are. If you want a level playing field, we need to ensure any

airline landing in Europe avoids Russian airspace. Until that

happens there will be enormous advantages to Chinese carriers,"

he said.

He also said that Chinese airlines did not have costs

related to Europe's emissions trading system, describing that as

another "financial advantage".

Airlines also lamented the uncertainty caused by aircraft

delivery delays, although budget carrier Ryanair noted

the capacity constraints would be good for ticket pricing.

Ryanair group CEO Michael O'Leary said the company would be

doing well if it got 10 or 15 aircraft from Boeing ( BA ) after March

next year, instead of the expected 30.

He earlier told Reuters that Ryanair would have to cut its

passenger traffic estimates for next year because of expected

delivery delays.

Air France-KLM said it was impacted by Pratt &

Whitney engine issues with its Airbus A220 orders, while

Lufthansa said it had never seen delays like those for

the Boeing 777X, adding they had reached around five years.