How Can Commercial Airlines Minimize the Environmental Impact of Flying?

If you’ve ever taken a glance at FlightRadar24, you’ll be able to appreciate the mind-boggling scale of air traffic in the U.S. and global skies. In today’s fast-paced world, the speed and convenience of flying make slower forms of transportation – train, car, bus or boat – seem impractical.

But there is a growing awareness of air transport’s mounting contribution to human-caused climate change. 

Air transport produces 2.5 – 5% of total carbon emissions, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, mainly due to its reliance on fossil fuels. According to the European Commission on Climate Action, a round trip flight from London to New York generates roughly the same level of emissions as an average person does heating their home annually. Concerningly, this slice of the carbon budget could dramatically increase to 22% as air travel grows and other pollutants (such as ground-based vehicles) reduce their emissions. 

A lack of proactive regulations means little progress has been made to curb aircraft emissions or take further preventative actions. In 2016 the International Civil Aviation Organization agreed to a resolution to address international aviation CO2 emissions – but the resolution doesn’t address current emission dangers. Also in 2016, the EPA declined to take further action in response to a petition to reduce carbon emissions from aircraft under the federal Clean Air Act, though it did acknowledge that pollution from airplanes disrupts the climate and endangers human welfare.

While the aviation industry faces emissions challenges, there are steps that can be taken to minimize its environmental impact.

Aircraft and Operations Efficiency

Although each new generation of aircraft improves in reducing emissions per passenger mile flown, this effect is somewhat hampered by:

• The durability of aircraft and subsequent length of time it will take to update the international fleet
• Any gains made in efficiency partially canceled out by the rapid growth of air travel

Future regulations on aircraft emissions will likely encourage commercial airlines to proactively upgrade their fleets. Until these regulations are passed, however, there are still steps airlines can take to improve sustainability in their field.

Optimized airline routes, timetables, and flight frequencies can also reduce the impact of air travel on the environment. Reducing the number of empty seats per aircraft, limiting the cruise altitude of flights (more appropriate for turboprop aircraft than jet aircraft), prioritizing single-haul routes over those with multiple take-offs and landings, and taxiing using an electric drive rather than the main engines can all further reduce environmental impacts.

Electric Aircraft

While electric aircraft might hit the skies soon, they won’t be flying on a commercial scale in the short-term. The race to bring electric power to commercial flights is actually cost-driven, since electric planes are not only quieter, cleaner, and easier to maintain, but are also much cheaper to operate. Electric plane manufacturers are boasting up to 70% reductions in carrier costs compared to existing fleets.

According to NASA in its work on the X-57 Maxwell, an all-electric test plane, electric motors are cheaper, easily scalable, and less mechanically complicated since they don’t need fuel lines, valves, and exhaust systems; these factors mean they will be highly advantageous to aircraft construction. However, major challenges like take-off and lift still stand in the way, as a large amount of energy is required to get aircraft off the ground. In order to accommodate lift, the plane needs a larger wingspan, which adds drag and makes cruising less efficient. 

With these issues obscuring a clear path to electric aviation, hybrid aircraft aren’t expected to take to the skies for short-haul routes until the early 2030s, and large all-electric aircraft will likely not fly until closer to 2045. The supply of battery cells (lithium-ion and sodium-ion) will prove challenging as the airline industry would need to compete with the electric vehicle industry, and Tesla is already concerned about lithium shortages in the coming years.

Alternative Fuels

Biofuels are currently considered the biggest opportunity for airliners to reduce carbon emissions, but unfortunately, a commercially viable market has not yet emerged as the biofuel industry struggles with costs and scale. As with electric aircraft, this alternative is suitable for smaller piston aircraft rather than large jetliners.

Alternative fuels include:

• Vegetable oil
• Ethanol
• combination of petrofuels and biofuels
• Coconut oil and babassu oil
• Jatropha-based fuel
• Algae-based fuel
• Liquified natural gas