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improve network efficiency,” Watt concludes. “That, in turn,
reduces the environmental impact per flight, as well as cutting
the cost to airlines of air traffic management.”
This article was commissioned by EUROCONTROL.
“All partners in ATM
can act to reduce
the inefficiencies,
but first we have to
give them the facts
and figures”
THE ENVIRONMENT
115
The European Commission is preparing legislation that would bring aviation into its Emissions
Trading Scheme. Le Thi Mai, General Manager, Environment at the Association of European Airlines
(AEA), tells Brendan Gallagher how AEA is already working towards a cleaner sky
uropean airlines’ concern about how they impact the
environment is nothing new. The AEA first devoted a
section of its Yearbook to the subject in 1993 and the
topic has been on the radar screen ever since.
Naturally, the focus has shifted over time. In 1993, the
major challenges were noise and emissions of carbon
monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen.
Fuel burn was an issue, but in the context of the world’s
E dwindling resources of fossil fuels. All of these concerns
were, to a greater or lesser extent, under control.
Technology would provide the solutions.
Fast-forward to the present, and some issues have all but
disappeared, some priorities have changed, and a whole new,
potentially serious challenge has emerged. It’s not poisonous
carbon monoxide that grabs the headlines, but carbon
dioxide (CO2), the gas that turns water into soda-water.
THE AIRLINES AND
THE ENVIRONMENT
© Arne V. Petersen, Copenhagen Airports A/S
THE ENVIRONMENT
116
It’s also a gas that is affecting the climate, because it’s
produced in quantities greater than natural ecosystems can
absorb. And that’s an issue for the airline industry because of
an inescapable fact: aeroplanes burn fossil fuel, which creates
carbon dioxide, which in turn impacts the environment. The
more fuel, the more CO2.
The air transport share of global CO2 is extremely small,
estimated to be somewhere between 2 and 3.5 per cent.
However, demand for air transport – even allowing for the
setbacks of recent years – follows a growth trend. What is a
small proportion of the total today may not remain so,
especially if other sectors are reducing their contribution. It is
clear that the industry cannot be complacent.
Historically, airline traffic in Europe has grown at about
6 per cent per year. The increase in fuel burned and CO2
produced has been somewhat lower, as the efficiency of
aircraft has improved and ATM procedures have become
more efficient. Since 1990, the gap between the two has
been, on average, about 1.25 percentage points.
However, this time period has seen the retirement of the
‘gas-guzzling’ aircraft, which made up the first and second
generation of commercial jets. The current fleet is closer to
‘state of the art’ efficiency levels than at any time in the
industry’s history.
That is not to say that further significant improvements are
not possible. Airframe and engine manufacturers are
constantly enhancing their product range, and every new
aircraft type or variant that comes onto the market is
invariably more fuel-efficient than the model it supersedes.
There are potential gains to be realised, too, in the way the
aircraft are operated. Aircraft are often impeded from flying
the most direct and efficient routes due to the somewhat
fragmented way the airspace is currently organised.
The airlines and their crews, too, can make a difference; the
way aircraft are flown and maintained has an impact on fuel,
and hence emissions, efficiency.
Along with other stakeholders, the AEA has developed a
policy on the containment of aircraft gaseous emissions. The
policy has four pillars – technological progress, air navigation
infrastructure improvement, operational measures and
economic instruments.
“When it comes to new technology it’s not enough if the
manufacturers produce greener aircraft and engines and we
don’t buy them,” says AEA’s Le Thi Mai. “We have it in our
power to renew fleets, and this is something the AEA airlines
have been good at – at eight-years-old on average, our fleet
is one of the youngest in the world.”
She is also confident that the AEA membership is working
hard on the operational front. “Our carriers are doing
everything they can – improvements in maintenance,
operational control and other areas – to reduce their fuel
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Partnership for Performance and Growth.(48)
