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Aviation sustainability
Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association reinforces greener aviation commitment
Gol using SAF
Image: Gol
Rafael Ramos
4/26/2021
Earth Day, celebrated on April 22, alone brings reflections on how we have treated nature. On the occasion, the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) issued a statement reinforcing aviation's commitments to sustainability.
According to the association, there has been an evolution in terms of sustainability in recent years, so that the changes implemented have favored the aviation sector to have less environmental impact and climate change. In addition, ALTA states that, despite the pandemic and the difficulties imposed, the aviation sector will continue to contribute to the reduction of environmental and climatic impacts.
"Despite the turbulence faced by the industry, the short, medium and long term objectives defined in 2009 remain intact and are in line with the Paris Agreement (signed in 2015) on climate change", according to the statement by ALTA.
Abastecimento de avião
Por David Monniaux - Copyright © 2005 David Monniaux, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In this sense, the association cites:
- Reduce net CO2 emissions from aviation by 2050 by half compared to 2005. Achieving this ambitious goal will be possible with continued investment in new and solid technologies
support mechanisms for the deployment of sustainable aviation fuels.
- Improve fuel efficiency by 1.5% between 2009 and 2020. Short-term goal that the industry has already achieved.
- Stabilize net CO2 emissions at 2020 levels with carbon neutral growth. A short-term objective that will be achieved with operational measures and infrastructure, technology and sustainable aviation fuels.
ALTA further states that in order to achieve these objectives, some changes and some attitudes are necessary:
- Aircraft with new technologies and large-scale development of sustainable aviation fuels.
- Operational measures, such as aircraft taxiing with a single engine (which allows to save fuel during the time on the ground), landings without reversers (which saves fuel and reduces the demand of engines during the landing phase), APU / GPU optimization (reducing the time this driving unit is on), takeoff and landing with reduced flaps (obtaining less air resistance and, consequently, less fuel consumption), among others.
- Infrastructure developments, such as navigation improvements to allow better use of airspace, fly more direct routes, optimize aircraft arrival, approach and departure operations, reduce fuel consumption and emissions.
- Market-based measures, such as CORSIA, to fill any remaining emission gaps until these technologies are available.
The Association also makes some comments on the use of SAF (sustainable aviation fuel:
“The rapid implementation of sustainable aviation fuels does not require engine modification and is made from sustainable raw material, not affecting the use of land and water, nor degrading the environment. Since 2016, they have been tested on more than 300,000 flights and it has been shown that, over the fuel life cycle, SAFs emissions are, on average, 80% lower than those on fossil fuel flights ”, says the note.
“SAFs will have a significant impact on long-haul flights, responsible for about 75% of total emissions, which means that there is a strong tendency for the sector to prioritize investments in the continued development of SAFs. For its implementation, the commitment of governments, the energy industry, researchers and the aviation sector itself is necessary ”, says Alta's executive director and CEO, José Ricardo Botelho.
In this way, the SAF can allow the sector to reduce emissions by 50% to 70%. Alta also points out that these goals must be reached between 2060 and 2065, but some regions may reach them before, given that several companies have already set zero net goals.
SAF is still a very expensive fuel and represents only 0.1% of the total fuel used in aviation.
The airlines associated with Alta have already achieved fuel efficiency of 3.5%, avoiding the emission of 1 million tons of CO2 in the last seven years. In addition, the fleet of these companies was renewed, which contributed to the reduction of emissions.
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Rafael Ramos
Aviation enthusiast from an early age, he had his first contacts with the area developing that good old habit of spending dozens of hours in front of the screens of Micrsoft Flight Simulator and other simulators. With a solid background in various technological areas, including engineering and chemistry, Rafael has rejoined aviation as editor and author of articles and materials on our portal, providing invaluable help to the dynamics and expansion of the website and the aeronautical community, bringing us the news and updates so indispensable for us to remain current in our area of operation.
   
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