General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
SNP accused of ‘greenwashing backroom deal’ over higher Scottish aviation CO2 if Heathrow expands
Documents have shown that the Scottish Government has adopted aviation industry claims that expanding Heathrow would not lead to increased CO2 emissions from Scotland. Logically, if there are many more flights between Scottish airports and Heathrow, that would increase Scotland's aviation carbon emissions. A memo prepared for Scotland's First Minister last October, obtained by The Ferret, claims that “there is nothing to suggest that LHR [Heathrow] expansion will have a negative impact on emissions attributable to Scotland”. Environmental groups say it is “worrying to see how closely aligned the Scottish Government appears to be with the aviation lobby,” and argue that the document “casts doubt on how serious the Scottish Government is about reaching its climate targets”. Claims that emissions would not rise are based on the aviation sector's over-optimistic hopes that remarkable novel fuels will soon be produced (or electric planes will fly using zero-carbon electricity ....) that will mean flying will no longer emit so much carbon. The AEF said the claim that Scotland’s emissions wouldn’t increase as a result of a third runway “suggest[s] some very odd carbon accounting somewhere along the line”.
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UK airport expansion plans mean higher aviation emissions – making a mockery of “net zero” targets
The carbon emissions from UK aviation according to the Climate Change Committee (CCC), were 39.3 MtCO2 in 2018. They were a little higher in 2019, making up 8% of total UK emissions. The CCC advised the government that for its Sixth Carbon Budget (2033 - 37) the carbon emissions of the UK should fall by 63% from their 2019 level. And "net zero" by 2050. The CCC has advised the government that there should be "no net airport expansion". But the government has ignored this advice, and recently government inspectors have allowed expansion plans at Stansted and Bristol. Southampton and Leeds Bradford airports are trying to get expansion approval. So instead of making every effort to cut UK aviation emissions, things are going in the opposite direction. Stansted Airport Watch says that, taken together, the airport expansion proposals that have been approved in the past year, and those in the pipeline, will increase UK airport capacity to over 500 million passengers per annum. This compares to 297 million passengers in 2019, before Covid, and 292 million in 2018. "With so much extra airport capacity in the pipeline, there will be no prospect of aviation achieving the Government's objective of net zero emissions by 2050."
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Ending “ghost flights” would be one of the simplest ways to cut UK aviation CO2 – government not keen to help
The UK government has produced a (predictably bland, uninformative, unhelpful) response to the petition asking for an end to the slot use rules that encourage airlines to fly "ghost flights." ie. empty planes or those with under 10% full. During the worst periods of Covid, the 80:20 slot use rule was removed. Now the rule is 70% use. That still has the effect of making airlines fly more planes than necessary, with a low load factor, just to hang onto the slot. Data has now revealed that 15,000 ghost flights flew from UK airports between March 2020 and September 2021. Shockingly, in 2019, aviation accounted for 8% of all UK emissions, and it shows no sign of slowing soon. The global industry may be slowly improving its efficiency, by about 2% a year, but passenger growth still surges ahead. There is an urgent need to cut the CO2 from air travel, and that can only mean fewer flights. There are no amazing tech solutions that will reduce aviation emissions to any significant extent, for decades (if ever). The really "low hanging fruit" of cutting aviation emissions is not encouraging unnecessary flights that are almost empty. Ghost flights need to be ended. Fast.
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Airbus hoping to have a “green” hydrogen-fuelled test flight “in a few years”
There are huge technical problems for the aviation industry, in trying to fly commercial airliners on hydrogen. Some are that hydrogen is a tiny molecule, and needs very strong, heavy tanks to keep it in; it has to be compressed and kept cold, and needs large tanks. But now Airbus says it has signed a partnership agreement with CFM International, to try to produce a hydrogen demonstration programme, hoping to manage a test flights "in the new few years." The demonstration will use an A380 flying testbed. It is hoped that the technology can be used "to assist with zero-emission flights by 2035." Airbus first produced futuristic concept designs for a hydrogen- fuelled plane in 2020. At the time, Airbus hoped they could operate commercial hydrogen-powered flights by 2035. Of course, Airbus wants a lot of government investment (ie. taxpayer money) to increase the production of hydrogen and create hydrogen transport and refuelling systems. Hydrogen could only be a low-carbon jet fuel if it is produced entirely using low-carbon electricity. There are many other more important demands on renewably generated electricity. Under 1% of the hydrogen produced in 2019 was made using 100% renewably-powered processes.
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Reply to a Parliamentary Question shows during 18 months of Covid, around 15,000 “ghost flights” flew from UK airports
It has been difficult to obtain the data, from airlines, of the number of flights they operate that have no passengers, or are under 10% capacity. These are termed ghost flights, and are a terrible unnecessary source of carbon emissions. Now MP Alex Sobel has asked a parliamentary question, replied to by Robert Courts (Aviation Minister), giving some recent date for the UK. The responses, through the DfT and CAA, was that almost 15,000 “ghost flights” took off from the 32 UK airports between March 2020 and September 2021. Heathrow was top, with 4,910 ghost flights in that 18 month period. Manchester and Gatwick were the next highest. There were an average of 760 ghost flights a month over the period, although the data covered only international departure and not domestic flights. During the pandemic the slot use rules that had required 80% of slots to be used were completely suspended. Airlines did not have to operate flights to retain the slots, but nonetheless flew about 14,470 ghost flights. This was partly as demand for flying was so low, planes flew with just a handful of passengers.
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Car and airline adverts helped produce something like 200-600 million tonnes CO2 per year due to increased sales
New research by Greenpeace and the New Weather Institute reveals the extent of the climate impacts from cars and airline adverts. Of course, advertising increases demand and therefore carries a climate and ecological impact associated with the greater purchase and use of the advertised products. The research has tried to work out the amount of money companies make from the higher sales, against the extra carbon produced. A report by the Purpose Disruptors group, ‘Advertised Emissions: the carbon emissions generated by UK advertising’, used a similar reasoning to measure the CO2 emissions (estimated at 186 million tonnes CO2 equivalent for 2019) associated with the increased spend driven by advertising activities in the UK. They say at a global level, car advertising could be responsible for some 570 million tonnes of CO2 (ie. 27 million tonnes higher than Australia’s entire GHG emissions in 2019). Airline advertising globally, which has a lower climate impact than car ads, may be associated with about 34 million tonnes of CO2 - a bit less than all UK annual aviation emissions, pre-Covid.
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Holland-Kaye quits civil service recruitment panel for new DfT aviation lead, after backlash from airlines
Recently it was learned that John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow airport, had been included in the 6-person panel to select the next incumbent of the role of most senior DfT aviation official. There had been outcry, fury and condemnation from the airlines, due to the fear of bias and the threat to impartiality if Holland-Kaye was involved. Now he has stepped down from the panel, following a backlash from airlines. Nigel Wicking, chief executive of the Heathrow Airline Operating Committee, a body that represents the carriers serving the airport, said: “We note and support the Civil Service values of ‘impartiality, objectivity, integrity and honesty’ and would question how the panel can be impartial when it contains the chief executive of Heathrow Airport, the regulated monopoly that the new director general will oversee..... Whether any bias is real or just perceived, it will cast shade on any future Government decisions involving Heathrow."
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ICAO contemplates tougher emissions standards on CO2 and noise for aircraft
UN aviation experts at ICAO are again discussing toughening emissions standards for commercial aircraft, less than six years before a previously agreed standard takes effect. Support for a new emissions standard could put pressure on plane-makers, which need years to adapt to rule changes due to long production cycles, to cease producing their least efficient models. Some ICAO member countries back the introduction of more stringent standards. One source said ICAO's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) agreed to draft new standards. However, it is not clear when these might come into force - it is hoped before 2025 - nor how tough the standards would be. ICAO is seeking broad agreement this year on a long-term aviation carbon reduction goal, but there are differences with countries such as China (with a young, growing aviation sector) not enthusiastic. ICAO's governing council has already backed emissions rules for new planes, with a cut-off date of 2028 for planes that do not comply with the standard, unless exempted.
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Swapping plane travel for low-carbon travel and staycations would create many more jobs – says new report
There is a real interest in how to provide good jobs, in lower carbon sectors, for people who currently work in high-carbon industries, such as aviation. This just transition is something society needs to achieve, quite fast. A new report by the organisation, Possible, and thinktank Autonomy, has crunched the numbers and found that there could be many more jobs, in local tourism and associated activities, such as rail and ferries, than in the aviation sector. Possible says job losses in the aviation sector would be far outweighed by those created elsewhere. The number of flights and passengers will have to reduce, in order to keep the CO2 emissions from aviation low enough, as there are no realistic low-carbon alternatives at scale for many decades, if ever. In the scenario which reduced aviation demand by half, around 139,000 jobs were lost and 422,000 jobs were created, generating a net increase in employment of around 283,000. In the scenario which reduced aviation by two thirds, 187,000 jobs were lost and 521,000 created, providing a net increase in jobs of around 337,000. This would help with the transition to a low-carbon economy.
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Wandsworth to help support the coalition against Heathrow’s 3rd runway
Wandsworth Council has provided the No Third Runway Coalition with much needed funds , £5,781, to help continue to campaign and provide effective and influential opposition to the Heathrow's 3rd runway plan and the airport's negative impact on local communities. Wandsworth has long argued against the case for a third runway and the huge impact it would have on the local environment, noise levels and residents' overall health and well-being. It joined forces with five local councils, Greenpeace and others to legally challenge the Government’s decision to allow the runway and in 2020 the Court of Appeal ruled that this decision was unlawful, as it was at odds with commitments to limit rises in global temperatures. However this ruling has since been overturned by the Supreme Court meaning the campaign to stop the runway continues. As well as the noise impacts of Heathrow, Wandsworth also has significant concerns about the air quality and climate impacts of allowing any expansion. Council leader, Ravi Govindia said "Wandsworth will work with the No Third Runway Coalition to do everything we can as a council to stop this happening."