Mitigating CO2 Emissions in Commercial Aviation

Abstract

The number of passengers on international flights have doubled in the past decades and it is estimated that the average growth will be around 5 % in the coming decades. The air transport sector is also one of the most rapidly growing sectors in terms of emissions. CO2 is the most significant of the greenhouse gases released and affects the climate and environment. The majority of emissions in air transport come from fuel combustion in jet engines and in order to achieve emission reductions and carbon neutral growth in the future, the sector must implement different variety of mitigation measures.

This study aims to find out what measures airlines are using and is there a difference in measures used between different airlines. The measures used are divided into three categories: market-based measures, technological measures and operational measures. Focus on this study was set to cover nine large airlines, that were chosen based on seat capacity, operating on three different domiciles. The research material was collected from the reports provided by the airlines.

The results showed that mitigation measures in use were fairly in line with the solutions presented in the theory. Operational measures were the most used ones among airlines due to their low cost and quick implementation. Mitigation potential of latest technological innovations were underutilized, and market-based means were not widely in use. There were slight differences seen in measures used between low-cost carriers and mainline carriers, but not between different domiciles.