General News
Below are links to stories of general interest in relation to aviation and airports.
Ammonia suggested as a possible future “low carbon” jet fuel – but problematic
A British company is hoping to use ammonia, in order to create "low carbon" flight in future decades. The hope is to produce ammonia (NH3) using the very energy intensive Haber Bosch process, which is how fertiliser is produced. Unless it used genuinely low carbon electricity for the process, a lot of carbon would be produced. The aspiration is that liquid ammonia could be stored in tanks on aircraft, and then - using the heat from the engines - "cracked" to produce hydrogen, which would fuel the plane. However NOx gases is produced in the process, and N2O is a highly potent greenhouse gas. Engines would need to have a second process, to turn the NOx into just water and nitrogen gas. The company wanting to do this hopes existing planes could be modified, though this would mean installing the cracker/heat exchanger unit next to each engine pod on an aircraft wing, and changes to fuel tanks. It is likely that an airliner with these modifications would only be able to fly short trips, of under 2,000km. Ammonia fuel would cost a great deal more than fossil kerosene - and it is a toxic and corrosive substance, that can damage many metals.
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Ireland’s subsidies for aviation fuel may be reviewed after COP26 deal
The Irish government may need to review aviation subsidies worth hundreds of millions of euros in response to the outcome of of the COP26 negotiations. This Irish support totalled €2.4 billion in 2019, according to Central Statistics Office data, and was dominated by the excise duty exemption for jet kerosene. Separately, airports received €23 million in state aid this year to compensate for pandemic-related losses, on top of a similar figure last year. The Irish environment minister, Eamon Ryan, said the European Commission wanted to resurrect plans to impose a minimum tax rate for aviation fuels as part of its 2030 climate plan. This proposal was parked when the pandemic hit. Airlines have fought against the tax. In last year’s general election, the Green Party campaigned to end “harmful subsidies that prioritise flying” and reintroduce the €10 air passenger travel tax abolished during the last recession. The issue of whether to agree globally on limiting fossil fuel subsidies was a key part of the COP negotiations, with producing countries (and others) deeply opposed to meaningful cuts.
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New research indicates that about 90% of UK domestic flights are taken by 2% of the population
Data from the DfT's National Travel Survey 2019 and data from the Civil Aviation Authority’s 2018 passenger survey show that about 90% of domestic flights in the UK were taken by just 2% of English flyers in 2019. The data was obtained by the environmental group, Possible. They also found that the typical domestic flier earns twice the national average salary. In an average year, 90% of the UK population do not take any domestic flights at all. Leo Murray, director of innovation at Possible, speaking of the cut in domestic Air Passenger Duty, from April 2023, said: “This new analysis shows that this tax cut makes even less sense than first feared. Effectively all of the benefits will go to reward the tiny number of wealthy households responsible for almost all of the environmental damage from domestic flights, incentivising them to fly even more often, mostly on routes that could easily be travelled by train.” Many people support a ban on domestic flights, on routes where the train journey is easy and less than 4 to 6 hours. In any one year (pre Covid) about 50% of the UK population do not fly at all, and about 15% of the population take 70% of all flights. 1% of English residents take 20% of all overseas flights.
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Stay Grounded network say new aviation climate declaration fails to reduce sector’s future emissions
An aviation climate declaration launched at COP26 on 10th November has failed to place any firm limits on future airport expansion, or growth in aviation demand. As part of the new "International Aviation Climate Ambition Coalition" (IACAC), member states that signed up have committed to working together, they say, to reduce aviation CO2 emissions in line with the aim to limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C. But sustainable transport network Stay Grounded said the declaration will not substantially contribute to aligning the aviation sector with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C limit. The proposed techno-fixes (electric aircraft, hydrogen, biofuels or e-fuels) will not cut emissions, if the sector expands. As well as preventing the construction of more airport infrastructure, and measures to encourage behaviour change, there need to be taxes on jet fuel and bans on short-haul flights. Mira Kapfinger, of Stay Grounded said: "Far-off targets for 2050 are not worth the paper they are written on ... Relying on CORSIA to reduce flight emissions is like waiting for flying pigs. It simply does not work.... the commitments in the declaration are neither new nor ambitious”.
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The alternative (hoax) “International Aviation Carbon Ambition Coalition” website – what the real one should say !
Persons unknown have taken the opportunity of the launch by the government at COP26, of a new grouping called the International Aviation Carbon Ambition Coalition", to provide a (sadly, spoof....) website for the organisation. The website, IACAC, has the sorts of commitments the real organisation should - and does not - propose or commit to. Some of the hoax commitments are, in summary: 1. Halve air traffic emissions departing from signatory countries by 2030, from 2005 levels. 2. Include emissions from flight departures (both domestic and international) within signatory country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). 3. Introduce a minimum jet fuel tax of €0.33 per litre. 4. Not use carbon offsetting as an emissions reduction measure. and 5. Ban crop-based aviation biofuel. This involves the commitment to strengthen CORSIA’s sustainability criteria for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). These are the sorts of changes that ICAO and global organisations responsible for the aviation industry and its climate impact, should be starting work on.
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UK-led COP aviation declaration – “International Aviation Climate Ambition Coalition” (IACAC) – too weak to clean up flying
The "International Aviation Climate Ambition Coalition" (IACAC) has been launched by the UK government at the COP26 climate change summit. Its declaration is too weak to reduce flying’s climate impact. It relies too much on ICAO's CORSIA scheme to try to limit some aviation emissions. The number of global air passengers and cargo is expected to increase significantly over the next few decades, but the CORSIA scheme will be ineffective, and airlines are resistant to measures that would reduce demand for flights. At least now the UK has included international aviation in its national carbon target, which means cuts (or net reductions) will have to be made - but most countries have not even done that. The text of the IACAC merely contains non-committal statements such as "supporting", "taking steps", "working together", "ensuring", "advancing", "promoting" and "convening." One commitment is: "Promoting the development and deployment, through international and national measures, of sustainable aviation fuels that reduce lifecycle emissions ...avoiding competition with food production for land use and water supply."
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Aviation’s present-day contribution to human-induced global warming is 4% and is likely to increase over the next 30 years
It is possible that, though the global heating impact of aviation so far has been about 4%, this could make up about one-sixth (about 16%) of the remaining temperature budget required to limit global warming to 1.5˚C by 2050. A recently published article, by a number of well recognised academics, suggests that emissions produced by the aviation industry must be reduced each year if the sector's emissions are not to increase warming further. The authors show that the only way to 'freeze' the temperature increase from the sector is to cut its CO2 emissions by about 2.5% per year. The industry plans extensive growth over coming decades, but the academics say "there is little chance for the aviation industry to meet any climate target if it aims for a return to normal." There are hopes the low carbon fuels could be found, and also that the non-CO2 impacts of burning jet fuel at high altitude could be cut, by using different fuels, emitting less water.
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COP26: airport campaigners to protest at 10 UK airports, against aviation expansion and greenwash
To remind everyone, during the COP26 talks in Glasgow, that aviation is a huge climate problem, aviation campaigners are planning to protest at Bristol, Doncaster-Sheffield, Gatwick, Glasgow, Leeds-Bradford, London-City, Luton, Liverpool, Manchester and Southampton airports from 11am on Saturday 6th. The action has been organised by Stay Grounded (a global network of more than 160 member organisations promoting alternatives to aviation to address climate change) – as part of the COP26 Coalition Global Action Days. Stay Grounded and the many UK protests, are calling for the halt of airport expansion. The Climate Change Committee (CCC), the UK government's advisors, have recommended that there should be no further airport expansion, unless some airport capacity closes - but government has ignored this. Stay Grounded is also asking for an end to the “greenwashing” of aviation, and false hopes being placed in uncertain techno-fixes such as "sustainable" aviation fuel (SAF). The CCC has warned that SAF and other small technology changes will not be able to reduce aviation CO2 enough.
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Climate Change Committee advises government to act to reduce demand for flying
The UK government's independent advisors on climate, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), produced their assessment of the UK Net Zero Strategy, which was published on 19th October. On aviation the CCC say the government is not doing enough to reduce demand for flights. They have also not shown how to achieve their ambition of cutting the demand for road travel, or meat eating. The CCC warns a “techno-centric” approach to cutting emissions adopted by the prime minister has a high risk of failure. Boris Johnson has regularly promised that climate change can be tackled without what he calls “hairshirtery”. Nick Eyre, Professor of Energy and Climate Policy at Oxford University said: "The PM's headline about not changing the way we use energy is not just helpful - it's unrealistic. We won't reach climate goals unless there's a combination of technology and behaviour change." The CCC warns that the Treasury still lacks policies to cut emissions. They point out that the government hopes for 10% of SAF used by planes by 2030, while the CCC consider it might be 2% (at best). They hope demand for flights will reduce, if not by government policy, by increased public awareness of the severity of global heating.
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Death knell for Heathrow’s 3rd runway as Ferrovial cuts off funding – and CAA blocks high passenger charge rise
Heathrow has been told by its regulator, the CAA, that it cannot raise its passenger charges for airlines by as much as it wanted. At present the airport can charge up to £22 per passenger, and it wanted to increase that to £43 in January 2022. But the CAA has said it will be capped at £24.50 to £34.40 for five years. - with an interim figure of £30 set for 2022. The CAA also reconfirmed its decision earlier this year on Heathrow's regulated asset base, (RAB) which determines how much money the airport can recover from its customers through charges. This will now rise by £300m, rather than the £2.3bn requested by Heathrow, which wanted to recoup its pandemic losses from consumers, but the CAA had refused. A final decision will be made in January. So Heathrow's finances are not looking healthy, and now their main shareholder, Ferrovial, has said it will not invest further in the airport, and is not happy about getting low returns. The withdrawal of support by Ferrovial could be the final straw for 3rd runway plans. Heathrow passenger numbers now are about 45% of the 2019 level, and the airport does not expect numbers to return to those levels until 2026.