ZERO AMBITION

It is hardly a lack of aspiration when you are determined to reduce the environmental impact of air travel

ELON MUSK has caught up to Richard Branson and

Jeff Bezos in the race to launch space tourism as next big thing it most certainly is not ‒ despite philantropy and token research being woven into the SpaceX journey. By contrast others have been working at things that matter to the general public ‒ like making air travel more sustainable. Since 2010, British Airways has committed itself to building a future for aviation that delivers the benefits of air travel for everyone while reducing the impact on the environment. It believes this can be done by accelerating the adoption of new low-carbon solutions and doing everything possible to improve energy efficiency.

In a live demonstration, BA Better World’s Perfect Flight initiative signalled a positive direction in its carbon reduction journey. By working closely with industry partners, it delivered a 62 per cent improvement in emissions reductions compared to a decade ago. This marks real progress in efforts to decarbonise, and shows that the determination to innovate and to work with governments can get us closer to the perfect flight of the future.

For Perfect Flight, BA’s new sustainability liveried Airbus A320neo was powered by BP sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The flight also involved adopting continuous climb and descent to minimise fuel wastage; refitting the cabin in lighter materials; offering only digital reading material to passengers instead of weighty magazines; and deploying electric ground operations vehicles, to name just a few.

“The A320neo is a great example of how far our industry has come. It meets all the ICAO environmental standards, thanks to advances in engines, aerodynamics, cabin and flight operations. The A320neo burns 20 per cent less fuel, which means less C0₂ emissions,” said Julie Kitcher, Airbus’ executive VP of corporate affairs and communications.

Heathrow CEO, John Holland-Kaye observed, “The Perfect Flight shows solutions to deliver net zero flight exist, we just need to scale them up. The faster we scale up supply and use of sustainable aviation fuels, the faster we can decarbonise aviation and protect the benefits of flying in a world without carbon. What is needed urgently is for governments to introduce policies to increase the supply of SAF and to provide the right price incentives for airlines to use it.“

British Airways has committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 through a series of short-, medium- and long-term initiatives. Its parent company, International Airlines Group, has also committed to operating 10 per cent of its flights using SAF by 2030.