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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/07/aviation-emissions-halved-flights-efficiently-study>
"Climate-heating emissions from aviation could be slashed in half – without
reducing passenger journeys – by getting rid of premium seats, ensuring flights
are near full and using the most efficient aircraft, according to analysis.
These efficiency measures could be far more effective in tackling the
fast-growing carbon footprint of flying than pledges to use “sustainable” fuels
or controversial carbon offsets, the researchers said. They believe their
study, which analysed more than 27m commercial flights out of approximately 35m
in 2023, is the first to assess the variation in operational efficiency of
flights across the globe.
The amount of carbon dioxide per kilometre flown has been falling as aircraft
become gradually more fuel efficient. However, the growth in the number of
flights has far outstripped this, meaning the emissions helping to fuel the
climate crisis are rising. Aviation’s carbon dioxide emissions could double or
even triple by 2050, according to experts.
The new analysis found that more polluting flights were common from airports in
the US and Australia, particularly smaller ones, as well as in parts of Africa
and the Middle East. Airports in India, Brazil and south-east Asia were
dominated by less polluting flights.
Atlanta and New York were among the airports with the least efficient flights
overall, almost 50% worse than the airports running the most efficient flights,
such as Abu Dhabi and Madrid.
The UN aviation body, the International Civil Aviation Organization, is relying
on an “unambitious and problematic” offsetting scheme, called Corsia, to cut
emissions. But it has yet to require any airline to use a carbon credit. The
ICAO was recently accused of having been captured by the industry. The EU has
set a 2030 target for airlines to use 6% sustainable aviation fuel, made from
waste cooking oil or produced using electricity, but the supply of these fuels
is limited and expensive.
“We are currently stuck with a global situation where there is no hope that
aviation will reduce its emissions,” said Prof Stefan Gössling, at Linnaeus
University in Sweden and who led the research. In contrast, he said
all-economy-seat planes, 95% flight occupancy and using today’s most efficient
aircraft could cut fuel use and therefore emissions by 50-75%. “That is huge,”
he said, adding that it would also mean far less sustainable fuel would be
needed to make flying near emissions free in the future.
“I always thought air transport was already very efficient, and that is also
what airlines like to tell people,” Gössling said. “But, in reality, it’s very
inefficient because of the three factors: using old aircraft, transporting
people [in premium seats] with lots of space, and often having aircraft that
are not really fully loaded.” In 2023, the average “load factor” – seat
occupancy – was almost 80%."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
