Airline - Environmental Impacts

Environmental Impacts

Aircraft engines emit noise pollution, gases and particulate emissions, and contribute to global dimming.

Growth of the industry in recent years raised a number of ecological questions.

Domestic air transport grew in China at 15.5 percent annually from 2001 to 2006. The rate of air travel globally increased at 3.7 percent per year over the same time. In the EU greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by 87% between 1990 and 2006. Despite continuing efficiency improvements from the major aircraft manufacturers, the expanding demand for global air travel has resulted in growing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Currently, the aviation sector, including US domestic and global international travel, make approximately 1.6 percent of global anthropogenic GHG emissions p/a. North America accounts for nearly 40 percent of the world's GHG emissions from aviation fuel use.

CO2 emissions from the jet fuel burned per passenger on an average 3,200 kilometers (2,000 mi) airline flight is about 353 kilograms (776 pounds). Loss of natural habitat potential associated with the jet fuel burned per passenger on a 3,200 kilometers (2,000 mi) airline flight is estimated to be 250 square meters (2700 square feet).

In the context of purported climate change and peak oil, there is a debate about possible taxation of air travel and the inclusion of aviation in an emissions trading scheme, with a view to ensuring that the total external costs of aviation are taken into account.

The airline industry is responsible for about 11 percent of greenhouse gases emitted by the U.S. transportation sector. Boeing estimates that biofuels could reduce flight-related greenhouse-gas emissions by 60 to 80 percent. The solution would be blending algae fuels with existing jet fuel:

• Boeing and Air New Zealand are collaborating with leading Brazilian biofuels maker Tecbio and Aquaflow Bionomic of New Zealand and other jet biofuel developers around the world.
• Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Green Fund are looking into the technology as part of a biofuels initiative.
• KLM has made the first commercial flight with bio-fuel in 2009.