Abstract
About 15,000 aircraft service nearly 10,000 airports and operate over routes approximately 15 million km in total length. More the 2.2 billion passengers flew on the world’s airlines for vacation and business travel, and well in excess of a third of the value of the worlds manufactured exports were transported by air. Further, aviation industry generates 32 million jobs worldwide and contributes nearly 8% to world gross domestic product. It goes without saying that air transportation has a big economic footprint. However, the aviation industry is not immune to the impact it has on climate change. As the aviation skies continue to crowd so does the impact of CO2 emissions. This paper reviews the challenges facing the aviation industry and what is it doing about reducing its environmental footprint. The paper concludes that aviation industry needs to look past their traditional business model and move to a model that allows them to operate in a new global business environment which puts emphasis on environmental alignment of business goals. In the interim, the aviation industry continues to explore the issues related to alternative fuels, more efficient engine technology, better traffic management and policy mechanisms (such as emissions trading and carbon offsets) with some degree of success. The paper strongly recommends the involvement of governments in establishing ground rules to help global aviation industry to mitigate climate change risks.
Highlights
About 15,000 aircraft service nearly 10,000 airports and operate over routes approximately 15 million km in total length
This paper reviews the challenges facing the aviation industry and what is it doing about reducing its environmental footprint
The aviation industry continues to explore the issues related to alternative fuels, more efficient engine technology, better traffic management and policy mechanisms with some degree of success
Summary
The aviation industry has come a long way since 1783; today more commercial flights occupy the skies than ever. Aircraft are responsible for around three percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Air Travel is the world’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which cause climate change. The world’s commercial jet aircraft fleet generates more than 700 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), the world’s major greenhouse gases, per year. Consuming more in the aviation industry equates to more greenhouse gas emissions which negatively adds to global warming. Transportation as an industry consumes about 20% of the global energy supply, 80% of which comes from fossil fuels He states that 80% of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions come from road transport. Even though vehicles and aircraft are becoming more efficient, but the fact remains that people are driving and flying more than ever This increases the miles traveled and transport-related emissions. The paper, does not discuss the environmental management systems such as ISO 14000 being adopted by aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus to make their production systems environment friendly
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