Other news

Lufthansa has taken a swipe at the EU standalone position on emissions trading, claiming that it leads to additional costs and is detrimental to the environment. Senior VP-Corporate Fleet Nico Buchholz told the Eco-Aviation Conference that “ETS based on arrival/departure at European airports favors alternative routes with potential traffic deviation via alternative hubs outside of the EU. Long-distance direct flights place an over-proportional burden on EU carriers with additional costs and revenue loss for EU carriers.” He cited a flight from New York to Delhi via Frankfurt and the same journey flown via Dubai to make his point. The flight via Dubai, which would be cheaper because it avoids the EU ETS, would actually burn 7% more fuel, he claimed. On a flight from FRA to Hong Kong, a routing via Dubai would burn 18% more fuel over a nonstop flight, for which Lufthansa must pay full carbon tax on the entire distance rather than what Emirates would pay from Frankfurt to Dubai. “Unsustainable stopovers outside the EU are promoted with additional pollution and detrimental climate effects.”

Aircraft Fleet Recycling Assn. has a key role to play in achieving 90% recyclability of the end-of-service world fleet by 2016. More than 12,000 aircraft are expected to reach the end of their service lives in the next 20 years and the challenge for AFRA is to enable owners to extract the greatest value from them, making recycling a more attractive option. Addressing the AFRA annual meeting in Las Vegas earlier this month, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Director-Airplane Environmental Performance Jeanne Yu said, “AFRA is the only global organization committed to the environmentally responsible management of airplanes as they reach the end of their service life, and AFRA is relentlessly pursuing continual lifecycle improvement opportunities…Using technology demonstrator projects is another way AFRA global partnerships can be utilized, as has been seen with carbon fiber recycling demonstrators, which have increased focus and accelerated the emergence of technology solutions.”

She noted that there is a need to improve the quality of recycled composite materials and to find new applications and new markets both inside and outside the aviation sector. She also sees AFRA as hastening the move toward closed-loop environmental models wherein airplane materials are recycled for use back into the supply chain. One challenge facing the industry is recycling versus disposal of aircraft interior materials, another AFRA priority. The organizationcurrently has 46 members and has grown more than threefold since being established in 2006

Delta Air Lines and Wayne County Airport Authority expanded their commitment to the environment with introduction of a new public recycling program at Detroit Metro Airport with divided trash receptacles in the McNamara Terminal to collect recyclable plastic bottles, metal cans and paper separate from other trash. The Airport Authority and DL have placed 19 of the new bins in locations throughout the terminal in Concourses A, B and C. Nearly 7,080 tons of trash were removed from the McNamara Terminal in 2009.

American Airlines and American Eagle fuel consumption fell 7.1% in 2009, according to parent AMR Corp.'s annual Corporate Responsibility Report, but the reduction actually was not an improvement. In fact, efficiency expressed in metric tonnes of CO2 per 1,000 revenue ton-miles decreased slightly, with an increase from 1.80 to 1.82 caused by a significant decline in cargo carried. AA is accelerating its drive for more fuel-efficient aircraft and took delivery in 2009 of 31 737-800s, which are about 35% more fuel-efficient than the MD-80s they are replacing. Another 45 737s will join the fleet this year and eight in 2011.