Weekly Business Insights from Top Ten Business Magazines | Week 291 | Shaping Section | 2

Extractive summaries of and key takeaways from the articles curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision-making | Week 291 | April 7-13, 2023

Why Europe Is Emerging as a Green Aviation Test Bed

By William Wilkes and Siddharth Vikram Philip | Bloomberg Businessweek | April 5, 2023

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A flight from Frankfurt to New York on a Boeing 747 jumbo jet emits around the same amount of carbon dioxide as heating 440 German homes for a year (roughly 2,000 kilograms, or 4,400 pounds, per passenger).  It’s no wonder then that aviation has become a prime target of climate activists and lawmakers, who are calling for people to fly less or take the train on shorter routes.   Airlines and aircraft manufacturers are recognizing that they must decarbonize if they want to stave off protests and legislative restrictions on growth. And Europe, home to Airbus, engine makers such as Safran and Rolls-Royce Holdings as well as a host of aviation startups, is emerging as the most ambitious test bed for new technologies, spurred by European Union leaders who want to make the bloc’s economy climate neutral by 2050, ahead of other regions. 

But decarbonizing aviation is fraught with technical and economic hurdles, not least of which are the unbending laws of physics.  Switching from kerosene to hydrogen is complicated and would require an overhaul of infrastructure on the ground at airports to support wide use of the new fuel. Hydrogen also needs to be cooled and is much more flammable than kerosene.

While batteries have become common in ground transport, they have major drawbacks on aircraft: They’re heavy and retain their same weight throughout the journey, unlike liquid fuel that burns off. That means the passenger compartment or cargo space would need to shrink to accommodate them. Hydrogen poses its own storage challenges, including cooling and the fact that it’s explosive when it’s a gas, raising the possibility of accidents resulting from fuel leaks.

The long certification timelines and the advancements that still need to be made with hydrogen mean that airlines and aerospace companies need to find an interim solution. That’s why so-called sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has emerged as a bridge to true zero-emissions aircraft.  But SAF is three to five times more expensive than regular jet fuel and even after enabling customers to pay for SAF in the booking system as part of their ticket price to compensate for their carbon emissions, just a few are opting in.

Whether it’s by making flying more expensive through taxes or developing green fuels or propulsion methods, cheap aviation is set to become relegated to the past in Europe, as the industry seeks to ditch its kerosene guzzling.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. A flight from Frankfurt to New York on a Boeing 747 jumbo jet emits around the same amount of carbon dioxide as heating 440 German homes for a year.  It’s no wonder then that aviation has become a prime target of climate activists and lawmakers, who are calling for people to fly less or take the train on shorter routes.
2. Airlines and aircraft manufacturers are recognizing that they must decarbonize if they want to stave off protests and legislative restrictions on growth. And Europe, home to Airbus, is emerging as the most ambitious test bed for new technologies, spurred by European Union leaders who want to make the bloc’s economy climate neutral by 2050, ahead of other regions.
3. But decarbonizing aviation is fraught with technical and economic hurdles, not least of which are the unbending laws of physics.

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Topics:  Aviation, Green Fuel, Travel