Abacus Blog

The airline industry’s rapid growth over the last several years has made air travel available to more people than ever before. This increase, however, also depends on airlines offering many more flights, which, unfortunately for the environment, means we’ve increased our carbon footprint by releasing larger quantities of CO2 emissions that contribute to climate change.

Commercial airliners in particular, but all air travel in general, use large amounts of fossil fuels every day. Therefore, any “non-eco-friendly” air travel now raises concerns, especially when considering its effects on global warming and that the level of emissions that aircraft release into the atmosphere, due to longer distances and higher altitudes, is significantly higher than those our ground vehicles release.

How Air Travel Creates a Carbon Footprint

Commercial airliners not only use a lot of fuel, but they’re large and loud. This has made the airlines and manufacturers, although perhaps unfairly, an easy target for environmental groups, governments and the press.

The aviation industry, however, maintains that it produces only 3% of emissions worldwide, compared to the 25% produced by power stations. Furthermore, FAA data shows that commercial airlines contribute only 11% of all greenhouse gas emissions from passenger transportation, far less than the 84% produced by our cars and trucks.

Although the aviation industry produces a small amount of total worldwide emissions currently, many experts believe that will increase to 15% due to the increase in air travel over the next few years. Therefore, manufacturers and airlines are working hard to make aircraft at least 50% more fuel-efficient by 2020. Airliners are already more fuel-efficient today, perhaps up to 70% according to the airline industry, compared to 1960s-era airliners. Even the size of the aircraft doesn’t seem to matter either because the Airbus A380 aircraft, the largest passenger aircraft, burns 13% less fuel than a Boeing 747. This is important because the cost of fuel is second only to labor as the top expense for most carriers.

It’s not just the aircraft or the engines that need to be more efficient; schedules and logistics have to be more efficient as well. For example, on February 9, 2008, an American Airlines flight from Chicago to London carried just five passengers on a Boeing 777. The reason for the flight was that American cancelled one of its four daily flights from Chicago to London. The airline found seats for all but five passengers from the fully booked canceled flight.

American Airlines considered canceling the five-passenger flight and moving those passengers to other flights. However, the aircraft was actually needed at London Heathrow to fly a full flight of passengers back to the U.S. anyway regardless of the number of passengers on the Chicago to London flight.

Nevertheless, The Friends of the Earth considered the flight as an “obscene waste of fuel” and estimated that each passenger produced 43 tons of CO² during the flight.

Airlines Go Green With Carbon Offsetting Plans

As experts, media and the public debate global warming, several airlines have already recognized the environmental effects of air travel, and are concentrating on methods of lessening the environmental impact of air travel.

For example, British Airways has recently adopted procedures to increase fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions by running its aircraft engines less than in the past. Another simple step that British Airways has started is reducing the running time of auxiliary power units that provide ground services for aircraft. Air traffic control procedures have also come under review in helping make the skies greener. One example of this is cutting down the time needed to wait for take-offs and landing, both procedures that require large amounts of fuel to go very little distance.

Some airlines have introduced carbon offsetting, which encourages passengers to pay a voluntary surcharge on flights to help decrease, or offset, the environmental impact of the flight. The money from the surcharges is sent to various projects such as reforestation, renewable energy development, energy efficiency projects, etc.

One example of an airline with a “carbon offsetting program” is British Airways, which has joined with Climate Care to offset passenger emissions for air travel.

Continental Airlines has a similar program begun in December 2007 with Sustainable Travel International. The voluntary program allows Continental passengers to view the carbon footprint of their flight and to offset the damage with a donation to Sustainable Travel. The money is then used for projects designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.

Delta has recently arranged for passengers to make donations to an environmental group to offset the carbon they emit on a flight. The group, the Conservation Fund, uses the money to plant trees.

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) works with The Carbon Neutral Company in London, one of the most experienced suppliers of carbon-dioxide reduction projects and sustainable development activities for many well-known major customers.

Silverjet, which suspended operations on May 30, 2008, claimed to be the world’s first “carbon neutral” airline by including a mandatory carbon offset contribution” in the price of each ticket. In October 2007, however, the offset scheme was changed to give passengers a choice on whether to accept the recommended carbon offset after the United Kingdom doubled the Air Passenger Duty.

Manufacturers & Airlines Are Searching For Eco-friendly Aircraft

Aircraft manufacturers are also working on more environmentally friendly aircraft. Both Boeing and Airbus are designing or redesigning their aircraft to be more fuel-efficient. Engineers are examining various technological innovations to accomplish cleaner, greener flights, including reducing drag and using lighter weight composite materials.

Boeing expects the number of available commercial jetliners to nearly double, to over 36,000, in the next twenty years or so. This increase might be a good thing because the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) expects 1.2 billion passengers a year to travel on U.S. carriers by 2020, which is a dramatic increase from the 741 million passengers last year.

Airlines in the U.S. used about 1 billion fewer gallons of fuel in 2007 than in 2000 yet carried 12 percent more passengers. The airlines have achieved this in many ways. American and Delta Air Lines, for example, often instruct their pilots to reduce fuel by using only one engine to taxi. Airlines have also added swept extensions to the wings of their fleet to reduce drag and boost efficiency. Airlines are also pushing to incorporate better and more fuel-efficient navigation procedures into their operations. Some airlines, notably American Airlines, have reduced the weight of the aircraft by removing ovens, galleys, potable water and more.

Aircraft and engine manufacturers are also looking to develop greener engines. For example, both Boeing and Airbus, along with jet engine manufacturers such as GE and Rolls-Royce, promoted technologies and their efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner will be 20 percent more fuel efficient than the aircraft it’s replacing. Airbus has also mentioned the fuel efficiency of its new A380. The Boeing 787 and the Airbus A380 are now the “greenest” commercial aircraft ever produced thanks to their fuel savings, lighter weight, and improved aerodynamics and less toxic materials.

According to GE, if an airline fitted just twenty of the Boeing 787s with the new Genx engine, they would save over 11 million gallons of fuel each year and reduce carbon emissions by over 110,000 tons.

However, airlines are also starting to help design and develop greener aircraft. In June 2007 low-cost operator easyJet called for a passenger jet that reduced noise pollution by 25%, carbon dioxide emissions by 50% and nitrogen oxide emissions by 75% less than the current Boeing 737 and the A320 families of aircraft. These jets, called ecoJets, would use composite construction, improved aerodynamics and special fan engines. The ecoJets would feature a two-class capacity of 130 to 220 seats. This is a tall order for an aircraft that should be in operation by 2015.

One example of the ecoJet (Photo courtesy EasyJet Airline Company Limited ~ www.easyJet.com)

Because the airlines are demanding fuel-efficient aircraft, Boeing has announced it won’t introduce an aircraft unless it’s at least 15 percent more efficient than the one it’s replacing. Rolls-Royce, which is supplying engines for the 787, also is trying to find new ways to make aircraft more fuel-efficient.

New technology both on the ground and in the air is also playing a greater role in fighting carbon emissions. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has started a program called NextGen (Next Generation Air Transportation System). It will overhaul the entire national air transportation system by using new satellite based technologies instead of the current ground-based technologies.

Using more direct navigation and descent procedures for aircraft results in both improved fuel efficiency for the airlines and reduced carbon emissions for all of us. A test performed at Atlanta (ATL) of continuous descent arrivals showed a reduction of carbon missions of 1300 pounds per flight. Furthermore, the test showed a noise reduction by up to six decibels as far as 25 miles away from the airport.

American Airlines, in another test using the FAA’s NextGen procedures, reduced carbon emissions equal to that produced by 15,000 cars in one year.

Carbon Taxes

U.S. airlines are preparing to challenge a carbon tax proposed by the European Union (EU). A carbon tax is a tax on carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases. The tax would force all airlines flying to and from Europe, including U.S. airlines, to purchase extra carbon credits if their aircraft exceed strict emissions regulations set to go into effect in 2010. Airlines producing fewer emissions, however, will be given carbon credits that they can sell to airlines that have aircraft producing higher emissions. The plan is based on one already used by other European industries that buy and sell credits to emit certain amounts of carbon dioxide.

The U.S. and other countries oppose the proposal believing it will increase costs for airlines and break air-service agreements between countries. Moreover, they say, Europe doesn’t have the legal right to force airlines to buy credits for carbon dioxide emitted in U.S. or international airspace.

Nevertheless, the EU has at least so far maintained its position to force airlines using European air space into its overall strategy to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

In the United States, meanwhile, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved a bill that would require all airlines, among other industries, to participate in a carbon emissions cap-and-trade program starting in 2012. This bill, called America’s Climate Security Act, is meant to reduce the total amount of carbon exhaust emissions up to 70% by 2050. It directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to gather data on aviation’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the proposal soon; the vote is expected to follow party lines with Democrats voting in favor and Republicans voting against the bill.

Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

We should praise airlines that set goals to be greener but we should also not rely entirely on airlines to make air travel greener. For example, we can do a lot as airline passengers, too. If you fly, consider participating in a carbon-offset program.

If the airline you’re flying on doesn’t have an offset program in place, you can buy offsets. The Environmental Defense Fund (http://fightglobalwarming.com) lists offsets they recommend. Also check out the www.americanforest.org website, especially its Climate Change Calculator and determine your atmospheric footprint and how you can offset it.

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