Green is on the increase

The Fourth Aviation and Environment Summit was organised at the beginning of this week in Geneva. Participants included different interest groups – airlines, aircraft and engine manufacturers, airports, oil companies, air traffic service provider organizations, official authorities, the media and so on. A declaration was made at this same event a year ago and it was now time to take a look at what had been done.

A positive aspect was the desire to continue together, not just as competitors but also in cooperation to find the best solutions to ensure sustainable growth. Pratt and Whitney, the engine manufacturers, confirmed that competition has helped them to develop better products and to innovative in quite new areas.

The fact remains, however, that when aviation wants to reduce emissions, it has four pillars to lean on: operative resources, technological developments, improved infrastructure and market based steering resources. Only by combining these will aviation move towards an emissions-free future.

Previously I was a little unsure about the fuss being made about experiments involving biofuels. Ten per cent bio-components in one out of every four engines. What was that all about? Well, now I understand the point of those experiments. It opened the door to development which can now gather momentum.

Biofuels will not solve the problem, but they can affect emissions significantly. That is why it is important that these earlier experiments make possible development work now and also open up the long process of standardization more quickly. Second generation fuels based on cameliana, jathroba and algae are now being tested.  Finnair wants to be involved in this work and we have researched the different alternatives together with our cooperation partners. Let’s keep this work going!

The aviation community seems to sometimes be a mutual admiration club, which is not able to talk about the results of new and positive developments in such a way that our message is convincing.

Can we be sure which horse to put our money on? Is there room for mutual competition in difficult times such as these?

The fact also remains that the environmental image of aviation is much worse than the actual truth. There have been plenty of improvements, for example, in the efficiency of jet engines over the last decade. Propeller aircraft are more efficient and quieter than before and can beat jet aircraft for eco-efficiency over short trips. Air traffic control improvements achieve emissions and time savings each year, while airport programmes are aiming for emission-neutral targets.

These matters are not very often conveyed in the right way, however. There were examples of this at our meeting. Some told about emissions reductions with a happy face, regardless of an increase in absolute emissions. Some compared their own reductions favourably with the bigger emissions totals on others, regardless of the fact that they did not carry cargo, for example. Somebody said that they could not invest, because of the financial mess and empty planes. Could excess capacity be removed from the market, so that those planes that do fly would be new and the seats full? That would clearly reduce environmental load.

Many companies offer emissions offset options to their customers. Finnair still does not support the idea, that the passenger should compensate for aviation’s emissions. If one journey of a thousand kilometers is compensated to the tune of a couple of euros, it doesn’t say anything about the environmental effect. The cost of carbon and fuel are still not included in ticket prices. The market signal about the use of better technology and non-stop routes doesn’t work.

Finnair is in the group which drives global emissions trade. That’s how we get the right price for carbon dioxide, and that is how we get our operations as a company moving in the green direction. The mutual aim is to reduce emissions, not necessarily to reduce travel.

The mutual admiration society has to become an alliance of mutual representation!

Kati Ihamäki