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Every year, millions and millions of passengers and freight move from continent to continent, courtesy of flights. The human race rejoices over substantial international trade and tourism growth, without incorporating sustainable flying.
If we look at the stats, air travel comes in second, with a whopping 12% carbon footprint, after vehicular transport, based on the global transport emissions. This clearly enunciates that we need to switch our air travel practices to sustainable flying.
In this regard, this article highlights the catastrophic damage flights inflict on ecological systems and how air travel can be more sustainable at both individual and universal levels.
How Does Air Travel Impact the Environment?
Despite governments teaming up with IATA to actualize the plan of major airlines incorporating Sustainable Air Fuels (SAF), the production and utilization are significantly low.
IATA states that around SAF-fueled 370,000 flights operated since 2016, which is nearly negligible compared to over 22.2 million flights in 2021.
So, most airlines still depend primarily on fossil fuels since they are conveniently available and much cheaper to acquire, leaving the environment in a dire situation. Here’s how air travel continues to ravage the environment.
How does Air Travel affect Air Quality?
The planet’s bio-life is heavily threatened, not because of the widespread use of automobiles only, but because of aircrafts as well, especially in developed countries. The US, for instance, experiences 45,000 average flights per day according to FAA, a rather huge figure.
Like diesel exhaust engines, the jet engine emits toxic smoke comprising carbon monoxide elements, soot, and other nano-sized particles when the plane is in the air or moving on a runaway.
Some of its emissions and impacts, for instance, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and contrail have twice the impact on global warming in comparison to CO2 emissions. In 2018, these emissions accounted for approximately 67% of aviation’s climate impact.
How does Air Travel Increase Noise Pollution?
As much as the aviation industry has advanced since the 1960s, most planes are guilty of terrific noise production during takeoff and landing, or when flown at very low altitudes.
The residents in the large cities have been victims of the deafening roars, especially those close to the airports. The inability to sleep and hearing impairment were the core aftermaths reported.
In the UK alone, over one million people suffer from aircraft noises that are over the allowable noise levels. People under the flight path have 10-20% higher chances of suffering from heart diseases or strokes.
A publication by Airport in 2019 revealed that the inhabitants of Frankfurt, Germany, raised their 300th protest against the disruptive aircraft noise in the Frankfurt airport due to the expansive action of new runway openings. Similar protests have happened in the cities of Berlin, Cologne, and Leipzig in the past as well.
Similarly, UK residents to the West of London moved to the street with placards against Heathrow’s new flight runaways in 2015 as reported in the Guardian.
How Massive is Air travel’s Contribution to GHGs and Climate Change?
Most times, people only consider CO2 emissions in air travel pollution, forgetting airplanes release other gaseous compounds that alter the GHG concentration in the atmosphere. The quantities may seem small compared to CO2, but the contributions to climate change are immense.
The other gases emitted from aircrafts, apart from CO2, include methane, ozone, and nitrous oxide, alongside water vapor in the middle and uppermost layers of the atmosphere, as stated in a report by International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The same body further discloses that these greenhouse gases form condensational trails that cover the earth in cirrus clouds causing the earth’s surface to warm. As a result, the earth becomes more prone to heat waves, wildfires, drought, and declining water resources. The impact is double that of CO2!
How Does Air Travel Influence Land Pollution?
Nowadays, small airports tend to neglect aircrafts in rugged-looking hangars or in the grass fields by the runways to rot. These aircrafts were once assets to their owners, who seemingly did not see their value anymore.
Remember, airplanes are not biodegradable because they’re metal sheets put together. By abandoning those planes, the area of land they’re lying on is toxified, and the grass beneath dies away over time.
The aircraft may begin to sink into the ground when left unattended for years, and its metal distorts the soil properties and the living conditions of the microorganisms.
What is Sustainable Air Travel and Why is It Important?
Sustainable air travel is the act of flying or taking flights so that the status and the well-being of the environment and nature are not jeopardized.
In other words, the activities in the aviation sector should coexist on friendly terms with the ecosystem.
Generally, sustainable air travel is a momentous movement toward instigating environmental conscience and greener aviation.
It’s never about a person’s desires and individual satisfaction but thinking about the welfare of their surroundings and other travelers. Sustainable air travel intrigues the inner voice to question whether air transport will hurt the environment or other human beings.
After all, the main focus of sustainable air travel is to ensure that entities do not compromise the rights of another to live comfortably on earth. No one’s health gets affected, and no natural resources get depleted.
5 Ways to Achieve Sustainable Air Travel
Most people think that encouraging and implementing sustainable flying lies in the hands of airlines and governments. But, in a real sense, your contribution at the individual level matters quite a bit.
This is an impactful journey of creating awareness among avid air travelers and making intelligent choices when air travel is necessary.
In this section, we will discuss innovative ideas and technologies for sustainable flying, some of which are already being implemented by various governments and international organizations to clean up the environment in the coming years.
Greener Decarbonized Biofuels
Since the mother of all the environmental issues caused by planes is the fossil fuels running the engines, investing in biofuels as an alternative would help curb the problem by a great margin. It will also develop the agricultural sector at the same time.
The more the aviation industry evolves to use fuels from sugarcanes, biomass, and other organic stuff, the more jobs for people.
As revealed by National Geographic, NASA conducted tests on blended biofuel as jet fuel and found out that they reduced soot emissions by 50%.
On the other hand, the International Energy Agency projected a high potential for sustainable aviation biofuels between 2025 and 2040. EIA expects an upsurge in biofuel consumption in aviation from the current 150 000+ flights that have used biofuels since 2008.
Light blue: Fossil jet kerosene
Dark blue: SAF
Green: Share of SAF (right-axis)
In a recent study, researchers at Washington State University studied the aptitude of lignin from agricultural waste to produce jet fuel and found that it could completely replace petroleum-based fuel when mixed with other biofuels.
They further found out that the lignin-based fuel had the potential to replace the aromatics that are pollution-causing compounds in conventional fuels to meet environmental standards.
More Investments in Electric and Hydrogen-Powered Planes
For a long time, commercial air travel has been dependent on environmentally unfriendly fuels from crude oils and requires an immense transformation to sustainable flying.
A crucial step in this regard is to switch from petroleum fuel-powered planes to electric or hydrogen-powered ones to achieve zero emissions in aircraft manufacturing.
In 2020, a US startup by the name ZeroAvia, in concert with partners from Britain, took to the sky successfully with their newly-constructed six-seater Piper M class that ran on liquid hydrogen.
This confirmed that the aviation revolution toward decarbonizing flight operations was possible because hydrogen packs a lot of energy yet does not release carbon as the by-product. Currently, the startup anticipates its first commercial hydrogen-powered 19-seater aircraft in 2024.
Similarly, several aviation startup companies, alongside ZeroAvia, continue to manufacture electric planes to meet low to zero-carbon air transportation. These are the California-based Airflow, Heart Aerospace, and Wright Electric, among others.
For instance, the Swedish company Heart Aerospace expects to deliver its first electric airliner by 2026.
Here, I would like to give a special shoutout to Dr. Sarah Qureshi, a Pakistani Aviation engineer who is developing the world’s first contrail-free aircraft engine. She founded Aero Engine Craft, which is achieving new heights when it comes to sustainable flying through its research and development.
Looking forward to sustainable flying!
Book Direct Non-Stop Flights
As an individual, you can mitigate the escalating environmental deterioration, expected to triple by 2050, by taking direct flights instead of connecting flights. Try to find a direct flight between your departure point and destination, not two or three.
Aside from being cheaper and less stressful, it lessens the carbon impact from the aircraft during landing and takeoffs since the highest carbon emissions occur at those moments.
It may not eliminate all the carbon emissions caused by your air travel, but it lowers them by at least a half.
Choose Virtual Conferences Over Work Travels.
With the world evolving and taking up digitization at a super-fast rate, more and more video conferencing platforms are being launched in this post-pandemic era.
You don’t have to fly for business meetings or meet your workmates for discussions when you can embrace over-the-internet video conferencing on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Meet Now.
The Covid-19 pandemic already justified that it’s possible to communicate official matters without coming into contact. It showed us how effectively global events could occur without one having to take a plane.
Fly if You Must, Reduce Pollution Elsewhere
If sustainable flying isn’t possible for you, then offset your carbon footprint in other ways. For instance, you can do as outlined:
- Use reusable plant-based packaging bags like sisal bags or tote bags when shopping. Avoid the use of plastic packaging.
- Buy more organic and locally-produced items and food than imported ones. Most importation activities depend on air travel.
- Plant more trees in your homestead or backyard. Trees reduce the carbon concentration in the atmosphere.
- Lessen food waste. Buy what you’re sure you can consume and finish, or refrigerate excesses for later use if you own a refrigerating system.
- Opt for ethical fashion brands. Do not purchase clothes that go out of fashion fast and end up being discarded in landfills.
- Offset your carbon footprint. You can find out more about carbon offsetting in the ‘Buy Carbon Offsets’ section in ‘Sustainable Business Practices | 10 Tips to Make Your Business Sustainable‘.
If you want to learn more ways to live sustainably, then head over to ‘14 Sustainable Living Ideas to Incorporate in Daily Life‘.
These are our top 5 tips on sustainable flying that have great potential of reducing flight carbon footprint. If you have more in mind, feel free to share with us in the comment section and let us know how you incorporate them into your daily life to fly sustainably.
