11/02/12, 21:56:13 EST

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Industry-funded study aims to clear the air on plane emissions

canada.com

A new industry-funded study released Monday appears to have been commissioned to fend off what is already a major issue in Europe and is quickly becoming one in North America: emissions from commercial airplanes.

Mike Tretheway, a Canadian airline consultant, warned an audience of air transport industry executives gathered for a conference in Halifax that the public perception is that aircraft emissions are a real problem contributing to climate change and not just a short-lived form of "Euro-lunacy."

Tretheway cited the example of Richard Chartres, the Anglican bishop of London, who released a message that said: "Making selfish choices such as flying on holiday or buying a large car are a symptom of sin."

The consultant also showed the audience a slide of a billboard that an advocacy group had put up on highways heading toward Britain's Heathrow Airport. It showed a broadly smiling man who said, "Let's Fly: Screw global warming."

Warned Tretheway: "This message is coming soon to North America."

The new study unveiled at the 73rd annual Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC) conference contends that domestic aircraft contributed only 1.2 per cent of greenhouse gases in Canada in 2005.

In contrast, the report says other forms of transportation contributed 26 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, with road transport accounting for 70 per cent of those.

The study is the first of its kind nationally. Ottawa's Jacobs Consultancy Canada Inc. prepared the report for ATAC and Nav Canada (the private capital corporation that owns and operates Canada's civil air navigation service).

The study cautioned that aviation is increasingly being singled out as a major source of greenhouse gases, a significant contributor to global climate change and a source of air pollution. "In other countries, such as the U.K., this is becoming a 'bete noire' with calls, for example, to 'ground and tax' air travel and air transport," the study noted.

Matthew Bol, author of the study, told the conference that aviation is a small contributor to greenhouse gases. "Aviation is an environmentally wise choice (of travel) between Canadian cities."

Emily Moorehead, a climate change spokeswoman with the Sierra Club of Canada in Ottawa, didn't agree with either the report's finding or Bol's statement. Moorehead said the relevant number is emissions per passenger per trip. "In terms of per passenger, it is the most polluting way of travel," she said in a phone interview.

"One trip to Europe per passenger is equivalent to driving a car for a full year," Moorehead said. She said instead land transportation such as trains and buses provide a more efficient use of fuel for shorter trips.

John Crichton, president and CEO of Nav Canada, spoke about the fuel savings that could be obtained if aircraft were permitted to make tighter turns over communities for landings (a practice that could potentially add to air space noise). Using Toronto's Pearson International Airport as an example, he said an extra 1 1/2 minutes of flying equals the use of 109 litres of fuel. In turn, that adds up to 286 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

Crichton estimated that if 646 jets depart daily from Toronto, with more direct flight paths they could cut back on 185 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. He said Nav Canada has already met with airports in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal to discuss changes.

Crichton said such initiatives to reduce greenhouse gases conflict with the public which isn't willing to put up with "tolerable" aircraft noise, but rather don't want any at all. "We need to work on this particular issue because it can really be an obstacle to where we want to go today."

Tretheway warned that such a strategy to reduce greenhouse gases might fail. "Using a term like, 'we're going to eliminate noise abatement is how we're going to meet our climate change commitments,' is a bad message. It sounds like, if I have to take out the garbage, then I'm not going to wash the dishes tonight."

 Printable Version  | published Nov 06, 2007