3. The Climate Change Challenge
3.12 The Aviation Industry
Global aviation has gained importance rapidly with the revenue passenger-ton-miles increasing from 3.2 billion to 84.1 billion in the period 1954-2007 (Gossling & Upham, 2009). In 2009, over 2.2 billion passengers were carried by the world‘s airlines and the global aviation industry produced 628 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to 2% of total global emissions (IATA Economics, 2012). Approximately 80% of aviation CO2 is emitted from long- haul flights of over 1,500km, for which there is no practical alternative mode of transport (IATA, 2012). Air transport carries approximately 5% of the world‘s trade volume which equates to approximately 35% by value. The industry currently contributes $425 billion of the world‘s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per year, and is forecast to contribute $1 trillion by 2026 (IATA Economics, 2012).
Aviation is a global activity as it provides an interconnected network of air services spanning the whole globe, with aircraft and the associated emissions continuously crossing national jurisdictions and continents (Forster et al., 2007). Domestic flights have implications for international aviation as they often serve as feeders for the international network (Gossling &
Upham, 2009). Realising this web of interconnectivity, governments at the 37th ICAO Assembly in October 2010, reached a global agreement on a sectoral framework for addressing international aviation emissions (ICAO, 2011). The agreement formulated global targets for the aviation industry. The aviation industry, through the guidance of ICAO, has committed to improve its fuel efficiency by 1.5% per year to year 2020, cap its net carbon emissions from 2020 through carbon neutral growth, and halve its net carbon emissions by 2050 with 2005 as the base year (ICAO, 2012). The entire aviation sector signed a declaration in 2008 that committed it to what is known as the Four Pillar Strategy for reducing emissions.
The industry has detailed four steps involved in the cutting of emissions, namely:
1. Improved technology – technological advances in aircraft designs, composite lightweight materials and radical engine advances, which has resulted in each new generation of aircraft being 20% more fuel efficient, with airlines expected to invest $1.3 trillion in 12,000 new planes (ICAO, 2011), offering high prospects for reducing aviation emissions. Aircraft are required to meet certain engine certification standards related to fuel burn, noise and emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx, carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons) with reference to landing and take-off cycles, as prescribed by ICAO (IATA, 2012). Sustainable biofuels are already in use in commercial flights, with more research and development being channeled into aviation biofuels (Lee et al., 2009; Arnold et al., 2000), as evidenced by the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), a global industry body that brings together all aviation industry action plans for promoting aviation‘s sustainable growth, and Canada‘s Green Aviation Research and Development Network (GARDN), a business-led Network of Centres of Excellence, whose mission it is to promote aerospace technologies for the protection of the environment (ICAO, 2011). The agreement is to foster and promote environmental research in aviation, particularly in the areas of sustainable aviation biofuels, sustainable development, industry collaboration and climate change. Other opportunities for improved technologies are in the communications, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management systems (Gossling & Upham, 2009).
2. More efficient operations – „operations‘ in aviation terminology describes a range of activities including the flying of the aircraft, the control and monitoring of the aircraft by the air traffic management system and the conduct of various airport activities (Gossling
& Upham, 2009). Emissions reductions in operations are being achieved through operational redesign initiatives such as reduced auxiliary power unit usage, more efficient flight procedures, baggage loading strategies, weight reduction measures (ICAO, 2012) and other measures geared towards reducing the amount of fuel used in servicing and operating each flight, which also results in significant cost savings for airlines (Lee et al., 2009). Operational measures to reduce emissions do not necessarily require the deployment of new or expensive technologies, but call for different ways of operating the equipment already in place (Lee et al., 2009). For example, landing using a continuous descent approach (CDA) is said to save at least 150kg of CO2 per flight (www.enviro.aero).
3. Better use of new infrastructure - reducing flight time has a positive impact on the amount of emissions (Lee et al., 2009). Infrastructure presents a major opportunity for short-term emissions reductions. Full implementation of air traffic management and airport infrastructure is expected to provide substantial emissions reductions through implementations of measures such as the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) and similar regional collaborative arrangements, as well as the implementation of Next Generation air traffic management (NextGen) systems (ICAO, 2012). SESAR aims to triple European airspace capacity by 2020, halve the cost of providing air navigation services and reduce the environmental impact per flight by 10% from the 2005 base-year levels (ICAO, 2012). NextGen is expected to deliver improved access, fuel savings and reduced CO2 emissions, as well as reduce delays by 35-40% by 2018.
4. Positive economic measures – these are short-term initiatives which are designed to close the gap until technology and more efficient operations can provide the means to meet the aviation‘s industry targets (ICAO, 2012). Governments are working at agreeing on a global framework that accounts for emissions only once, to ensure that airline users are not taxed more than once for carbon emissions (ICAO, 2012; Forster et al., 2007).
Flight Navigation
More than 100 000 flights take off at airports across the world daily, some on short hops and others across the oceans but in the same sky (IATA, 2012). It is estimated that 8% of aviation fuel is wasted as a result of inefficient aircraft routing (ICAO, 2012). Evolutions in the industry are having profound effects on the way aircraft are being safely handled and in more environmentally friendly ways than in the past (Lee et al., 2009). Until recently, aircraft routing was based on pre-determined routes (highways in the sky), which were designed around the location of ground-based navigational aids (ICAO, 2012). The accelerated growth in the number of in-service aircraft has demanded a shift in this type of air traffic management (Gossling &
Upham, 2009). Technology advances based on automated communication data-links are making it possible to move towards the management of optimal airspace use rather than management of each flight (Lee et al., 2009; Gossling & Upham, 2009). Communication, navigation and surveillance can be managed within a global or regional framework of information systems, rather than relying on voice communications between a controller and a pilot (IATA, 2012).
In this dispensation, air traffic management will be treated as a global rather than a national operation, with common automated technologies and procedures based on satellite data-links (IATA, 2012). This will allow aircraft to dynamically change altitude or direction to exploit prevailing traffic and weather conditions. These developments have already been tested and proven in the airspace of 41 European countries (ICAO, 2012), where reduced vertical separation minimum (RVSM) increased the en-route airspace capacity above Europe by 14%.
This has resulted in reduced flight delays, increased fuel economies, greater flexibility for air traffic controllers and has consequently improved environmental performance due to reduced fuel burn (ICAO, 2012).
ANSPs are exploring new designs in take-off, routing, cruising and landing procedures, which are resulting in improved efficiencies (Lee et al., 2009). Commonly referred to as ―green departures‖, airlines in collaboration with ANSPs are experimenting with procedures where pilots can take-off and climb to the optimal cruising altitude in one smooth, continuous ascent.
This is a big departure from the traditional procedure of ascending to the cruising altitude in several steps. These ―green departure‖ procedures saved 10 000 tonnes of fuel and 32 000
tonnes of CO2 emissions in one airport in a year in Europe (ICAO, 2012), with fuel savings estimated at $34 million in 2008. Fuel savings of up to 40% (equivalent to 50 – 150kg of fuel) during the approach phase have been demonstrated through the use of continuous descent operations (CDO) (ICAO, 2012). It is estimated that up to 150,000 tonnes of fuel and 500 000 tonnes of CO2 per year could be saved in Europe alone if CDO procedures are widely adopted (IATA, 2012).
ANSPs are working collaboratively with aircraft manufacturers, airlines and airports to ensure that aircraft are taking-off, cruising and landing in the most efficient way (Lee et al., 2009).
ATNS is a member of an aviation group working on an Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE) project, started in September 2008. By early 2010, the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE) project had a 1 152 flight trial, with a demonstrated 400 000 tonnes saving in CO2 as a result of greener ATM procedures. The most wasted fuel is in delays as aircraft queue up for a runaway take-off slot, or a wait until a terminal gate is free (ICAO, 2012). The utilisation of airport collaborative decision making (A- CDM) directly linking airport operators, ground handlers and service providers to air traffic management networks, and giving users access to operational data, ensures that flight schedules are planned in alignment with available runway and airspace capacity (ICAO, 2012).
In one European airport, the introduction of A-CDM reduced taxing times by 10%, with a fuel savings of $3.6 million in a year (ICAO, 2011). In the United States, the cost of burning fuel on the ground due to delays was estimated at $5 billion for 2008 (IATA Economics, 2010).
Technological evolutions are looking at advanced collaborative decision making where information such as passenger flows and baggage information will be shared to improve on-the- ground service efficiencies (ICAO, 2012).
In order to be effective, efforts to reduce greenhouse gases are addressing the total aviation value chain, requiring close collaboration between different parties to these value chains including airlines, aircraft manufacturers, fuel suppliers, air navigation service providers and airports, as well as ancillary suppliers of services (ICAO, 2012). By mandating the development of common functional airspace blocs such as the Single European Sky (SESAR) programme, the aviation industry has taken major steps towards national and regional collaboration (ICAO, 2012). This collaboration is extending to all airspace users, including the military, business and
general aviation flyers, giving users access to previously restricted airspace, e.g. restricted military zones (IATA, 2012). In the past, avoiding restricted airspace meant lengthy and inefficient detours which increased the amount of emissions per trip.
Due to the global, interconnected nature of air transport, governments around the world are encouraged to equally apply the parameters of a global framework to both domestic and international aviation emissions reduction efforts (ICAO, 2012). They were tasked with the responsibility of establishing appropriate legal and fiscal frameworks to facilitate CO2 emissions reduction efforts within their jurisdictions.
4. Bounded Rationality in Strategic Decision Making