Climate concerns have sparked a public backlash against flying that would have been almost unthinkable even a year ago.
When cyclist Anna Hughes stopped flying 10 years ago, it seemed like a radical idea. But now the founder of Flight Free UK has convinced thousands of people to join her in her bid to mitigate the climate impact of air travel.
For airlines, the sudden takeoff of this movement presents a potentially dangerous challenge. Airline passenger growth shows signs of weakening in countries whereis catching on. There was a 3% fall last year in the number of passengers for domestic flights going through 10 of Sweden’s state-owned airports, compared with the year before. The movement has not only taken aim at summer holiday flights, but also at airport expansion plans including Heathrow in London.
Even if it is not yet hitting the bottom line, airline executives have begun to take the impact of emissions and climate risks more seriously. “Aviation needs to reinvent itself,” admits Johan Lundgren, chief executive of EasyJet, the European low-cost carrier.The problem for the aviation industry is there are few technological solutions available that will help it reduce emissions and therefore address the potential consumer backlash.
A growing body of research shows that the climate impact of airplanes is about twice as much as their carbon dioxide emissions alone would suggest — closer to 5% of human-caused warming. Some aviation executives have been trying to focus attention on emissions for at least a decade. Iata, the industry body, made a commitment in 2009 that the entire industry would halve emissions by 2050, relative to 2005 levels.
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