That Was The Week That Was 20-24 September 2021
Flying Around to Reduce Emissions
Monday of this week, the week that was, saw the long-awaited and much hoped for lifting of restrictions on travellers from Europe to the US. It has been a summer of European easing not being reciprocated across the Atlantic; the reintroduction of European restrictions and now the unilateral lifting of the US restrictions. It looked somewhat disjointed. If only there was an international forum to allow for this sort of action to be agreed and coordinated…
The US announcement was nonetheless roundly welcomed by the industry, notwithstanding that it only kicks in from November. That is tricky, in that it shuts down the treat of the Halloween travel season for another year. Scary. It also means that the IATA AGM, in early October, in Boston, will have to do without its European members and observers. How the caravan that travels from Geneva to the AGM location each year – comms teams, hangers on, go-fers – arranges its travel remains to be seen. Each and every one of them will be essential travellers, no doubt, at least for IATA.
What the announcement did most of all was fire the starting gun on industry events to talk about sustainability. Yes, you will be free to travel Europe and the world to stand around at networking coffee breaks talking about sustainability.
First cab off the rank was Airbus which had a major jamboree – sorry, sorry; a Summit – which started on Tuesday. The great and the good of the industry come to tell us that the future is hydrogen and/or electric, and that furthermore, that future is sooner than you think. There is an interesting dynamic playing out here. Hydrogen to replace fossil fuel for long haul; electric for short-haul seems to be an interesting pattern that is emerging. How electric and whether the short haul is what we currently consider to be short-haul, such as is flown by airlines today, or starts to encompass much shorter journeys on AAM devices remains open for debate.
What does seem out of the picture are Sustainable Aviation Fuels – the Xanadu of the industry for a generation or so. It is worth considering this chart, from ICCT, that looks at the projected use of SAFs over time. Perhaps the best thing to take away from the chart is that the half life of an ATAG SAF forecast is about 5 years.
On Wednesday as part of the wrap up Thomas Reynaert of Airlines four Europe noted that all of this happy, happy, happy talk was in line with their Destination 2050 and also the Commission’s Fit for 55. What he missed was that the 55 is the percentage reduction, not the timeline. Destination 2050 is currently banking on SAFs. But if the alternatives are so close and SAF still a pipe-dream, why do we pursue it so relentlessly? Expect more about SAFs and hydrogen at the IATA AGM. The programme was released on Wednesday and it is long sustainability.
If you jumped on a plane, you could then make it from Toulouse to Brdo in Slovenia to glad hand with European Council of Transport and Energy Ministers who on Wednesday had meet formally, but on Thursday had an informal meeting to ram home the point that the 55 is the target for 2030, whatever your destination may be. How that will be received in Boston will be interesting.
CANSO also announced its programme for its AGM and CEO Executive – oh yes – Summit on Thursday. And of course, sustainability will be on the agenda in Madrid too. Making it a full house ACI Europe also released its programme for its AGM and Congress (hooray!) and oh yes, sustainability is on that agenda too. That meeting is in Geneva.
Even eco-warriors need a rest, so Friday was reserved for counting air miles and arranging bookings. There you have it. As travel returns you can once again fly around the world to talk about saving the planet.