Page 69 - World Airnews Magazine July Edition 2020

AVIATION

needs to be addressed. But even if it is space for passengers and cargo on board alternative sources as soon as it becomes
brought back to zero, it has, by definition, an aeroplane. available in sufficient amounts.
little influence. It is therefore not very This is exactly what has happened The aeroplane cannot do that.
clever to place aviation on the scaffolds between 1960 and 2000; the fuel The path to climate neutral flying
as climate change’s main culprit… at least, consumption per passenger of civil is through the development of SAF:
not if you really want to do something aeroplanes decreased from 8.5 litres per Sustainable Aviation Fuel. This can be
about the climate change problem. Yes, say 100 km (Douglas DC-8) to 2.3 litres (Boeing bio-kerosene, produced, for example,
the framers, it may only be 2% now, but 777). That is a decrease of more than 70%. from algae so that it does not compete
aviation will grow so quickly that by 2050 Therein lays the problem. with food production. It could also be
perhaps a quarter of all CO2 emissions will Unlike cars, there is little room for further synthetic kerosene, something that could
come from aviation. improvement. Nevertheless, there is a be made when there is excess production
We speak of course of predictions made potential solution. One could choose to of electricity from solar or wind energy.
before the Corona crisis. If you examine limit mobility and thus make flying more Both SAFs are already technically possible
this, it turns out that the figure of 25% will expensive. However, one would also have but are still too expensive. The aviation
only be the case when all other human to make the alternatives equally more sector was unable to invest in its further
emission sources have been reduced by expensive, otherwise the results will not be development, before and certainly cannot
at least two-thirds. And if that is the case, favourable as demand might move to other following the Corona crisis. If you really
the climate change problem will have been forms of transport that perform worse than care about the future, you should choose
solved. The final piece of framing that aviation. So, the discussion must really be to work on financing this development,
remains is that aviation must become more about whether or not to limit mobility, not and not on policymaking based on framing.
fuel efficient and that, just like with cars, about limiting aviation. In short: if you work in aviation, you have
you can enforce this by taxing fuel. To say But if you choose to set limits and make every reason to be immensely proud.
this shows a great lack of knowledge of travel more expensive, governments must If you are a policy maker, please make
aviation. use the revenue from levies or taxes to wise choices that are based on facts.
Aircraft have a maximum take-off mass make aviation climate neutral, because NOTE: Aficionados of numbers and
that must be accurately observed. Even aviation does have a problem. percentages can find background informa-
if the fuel were free, aviation would The high-speed train can run on tion, sources and detailed examples of the
become increasingly more fuel efficient emission-free electricity from nuclear framing discussed here in the pdf “Aviation
as lower fuel consumption means more energy and can switch to electricity from – Framing versus Facts”. Q

World Airnews | July Extra 2020
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