The Price of Flying

Introduction

Before COVID-19, each year 38.9 million airline flights were conducted. This number dropped dramatically during COVID but now, the demand for flying has become greater than ever. So before you book a flight read this blog to know about the environmental price of flying.

Environmental Impact

Fuel

Amounting to around 3% of the world’s yearly emissions, even minor fixes can lead to massive reductions. Carbon emissions come from many sources on airlines, from plane efficiency, and fuel type. Currently, the primary form of fuel is petroleum-derived, meaning that when burned they release various greenhouse gasses that heat the atmosphere. So, the development of sustainable aviation fuels or SAFs has been adopted. The large majority of these fuels can directly replace current petroleum fuels, these fuels are produced by processing various forms of waste, such as agricultural, forest, and municipal waste. These types of fuels reduce emissions by burning more cleaning because they have longer carbon chains. Not only do they burn cleaner but they also reduce the amount of waste that the world produces, a waste reduction also reduces greenhouse emissions through having less decay and decomposition in landfills which releases countless greenhouse gasses far more potent than carbon dioxide, such as methane. Another type of sustainable fuel is hydrogen fuel, when burned it produces water vapor which is very sustainable for the environment. However hydrogen fuel requires a different type of engine to run, and this technology is rather new so the actual implementation of hydrogen fuel in the real world is still in the future.

Airplane Efficiency

The efficiencies of modern-day aircraft have been increasing dramatically. Two current forerunners in plane efficiency are the Boeing-787 and the Airbus A350-900. These planes have greatly reduced emissions compared to previous models. The Boeing-787 and Airbus A350-900 emit around 20-30% fewer greenhouse gasses, this is achieved by having lighter frames from newer composite materials which also causes increased aerodynamics because these new materials can be molded more easily and allow more complex and aerodynamic shapes to be adopted, and also more efficient engines which lead to less fuel consumption.

Economic Impact

65.5 million jobs and 2.7 trillion dollars in terms of GDP is the size of the global airline industry. Many of these changes for sustainability have various economic impacts. For example, SAFs are often double the price of regular jet fuel, to accommodate these prices airlines often mix SAFs and jet fuel to find a balance between sustainability and cost. Buying new airplanes has a less economic impact as they are more of an investment than a purchase. As their sustainability factors also reduce the amount of fuel that airlines need to buy, saving them money. Newer airplanes also can be advertised so that more people will buy tickets for new models which helps offset the cost of the airplane. Eventually, the cost of the airplane will be offset by the amount of money the airplane has made for the company.

Possible Solutions

Solutions for making flying more sustainable must be economically realistic while providing substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Buying newer models of airplanes is a very good way for airlines to do this because they are a lot more sustainable compared to older models while also having an economically viable reason for the purchase. Other ways could be to mix in SAFs into ordinary jet fuel which would reduce emissions yet also make it not too costly for airlines. This strategy was proven effective in the automotive industry as newer cars that are more sustainable are advertised to increase sales. Ethanol a sustainable gasoline alternative is mixed with regular gasoline to be both cost-effective and more sustainable.