Sustainability And Airlines

The term “flying shame” became widely-used emerged few years ago when the environmental activist Greta Thunberg started actively promoting preserving the planet and avoid flying as much as possible. Ever since her supporters around the world are continuously increasing with thousands of strikes being held in numerous countries. Flight Free 2020 campaign in the UK and other initiatives in Canada, France and Belgium are another example of the trend of switching from travelling by plane to train. 

Such tendencies can have a detrimental impact on the passenger demand. Therefore, the aviation industry needs to take actions. Many airlines around the world already take measures to mitigate their environmental impact. They apply various techniques to improve fuel efficiency, reduce waste on board, cut duty free sales to reduce weight, use more sustainable materials, serve more environmentally friendly meals, invest in sustainable aviation fuels, offset emissions. IATA has set the following sustainability targets for airlines:

• An average improvement in fuel efficiency of 1.5% per year from 2009 to 2020
• A cap on net aviation CO2 emissions from 2020 (carbon-neutral growth)
• A reduction in net aviation CO2 emissions of 50% by 2050, relative to 2005 levels

These goals put further pressure on airlines to implement more sustainable initiatives not only to remain competitive in the market but also contribute to the overall sustainability of the industry. Governments are not sitting idly either. Even in the last 18 months, several governments have proposed legislation aimed at stricter controls on aircraft emissions, popularly called “green taxes”.

The short answer is through technology. One clear example for a technology that has improved efficiency is newer aircraft models with more efficient design and more economic engines. Of course, there isn’t a major airline in the world that could change their whole fleet to the most modern aircraft within an year, or even five. In addition to new technologies having high adoption cost, there are numerous examples of innovations that couldn’t be supported by current business models or because of the changing business environment. At its introduction in 2007, Airbus A380 was the undisputed champion of fuel efficiency, yet there are no new orders and Airbus is shutting down the program after the delivery of the current backlog.

In aviation, the fastest innovation often happens in areas which are not heavily regulated by governments. Honeywell is actively engaged in innovative technology: from UAM to data analytics, from participation into numerous climate change events to producing alternative jet fuel. Honeywell’s process technology allows refineries to produce Green Jet Fuel, which can enable 65-85% lower greenhouse gas emissions on a life-cycle basis. Honeywell’s technologies also can enable production of Green Diesel, which can generate an 85% reduction in life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions from road, rail, and shipping transportation.

Alternatives to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are high-global-warming-potential molecules used commonly in refrigerants and other applications. If left unmitigated, for example, air-conditioning refrigerants would contribute 20-25% of global warming by 2050.

Honeywell has pioneered a new generation of low-global-warming-potential hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) refrigerants, aerosols, solvents, and blowing agents – branded as Solstice® – that can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions impact of current offerings on the market by more than 99%. Honeywell’s Solstice portfolio has already helped customers avoid discharging the equivalent of over 150 million metric tons of CO2.”

One of the areas, where the pace of innovation has been the highest is in big data, data analytics, and platforms that allow multiple stakeholders – both people and systems – to leverage data and insights.

One new area in which Honeywell has been leading the way for more than a decade is analisys of post-flight data.

Honeywell Forge is a powerful flight data alanytics platform that analyzes and unlocks critical performance and operational indicators in flight efficiency, maintenance, safety, block time analysis, ground turn optimization. This empowers airlines to improve operational inefficiencies quickly.

During the past few years the aviation industry experienced a massive progress in aircraft efficiency. According to ATAG, modern aircrafts are more than 80% more fuel efficient per seat kilometer than those in 1960. Additionally, IATA claims that fuel efficiency has increased by 30% since 2010 due to more efficient aircraft components, engines, wings and modular designs.

Aircraft design has changed substantially in the past few years. Modern aircrafts built from composite materials like Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 XWB open room for more fuel savings due to reduced empty weight. Nowadays, aircrafts are more aerodynamical due to numerous improvements such as wingtips. Engines are also more efficient as their actual combustion use has been reduced. 

Honeywell has also been devoted to producing more efficient, reliable and high-performance engines for local, international, agricultural and military aviation since 1953.

The picture below represents the pace in which the industry has developed in recent years. What is evident is that not only aviation develops much faster than the world GDP but is also an important factor for it. Additinally, a correlation between international aviation and world trade can be found.

The European Emissions Trading Scheme aims to fight climate change and to reduce emissions. It covers heavy energy-using installations and airlines operating within the European Union. It is a ‘cap and trade’ system, where companies receive emissions allowances, which they can trade between each other or surrender when producing emissions. As a result, every year airlines need to track and report their emissions, which can be time-consuming, especially when reporting emissions from flights, which departure or arrival airport is outside of the European Union.

Honeywell Forge Flight Efficiency supports airlines in their efforts to reduce their environmental footprint and provides a module, which helps airlines track and report their emissions. The powerful tool provides numerous benefits such as:

• Compliance with the EU-ETS regulations
• High data-quality and verification according EU requirements
• Flexible customization options- according to the airline’s needs and monitoring plan
• Various runtime reports available for internal and external reporting
• Flight information is available runtime even to the finest level of detail
• Support for wet lease flights
• Capability to run reports over archived data

In order to meet aviation’s environmental targets, ICAO adopted CORSIA in 2016. It is an offsetting scheme and addresses international aviation. To comply with ICAO, aircraft operators producing more than 10,000 tonnes of CO2 must monitor and report their emissions. It is assumed that CORSIA will avoid 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2 from 2021 to 2035.

Honeywell Forge Flight Efficiency recently included a CORSIA module, so that airlines can monitor and report their emissions and use Honeywell’s powerful tool for emission verification to third-parties.

The UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, stated: “We need to get grips with commercial aviation greenhouse gas emissions for the sake of our children and our fragile environment.” 

Below are few possible scenarios of aviation initiatives and the increase of CO2 emissions associated with each scenario.

There are various options that can be undertaken in order for the aviation industry to mitigate its environmental impact. As can be seen from the picture, CO2 emissions are projected to increase dramatically in the next 30 years If no actions are taken. ICAO forecasts over 300% growth in emissions in such scenario. Numerous measures are already taken such as enhanced aircraft technology, operational and infrastructural development, which positions us in the yellow area. What is evident is that significant reductions in emissions, which is a key to the future continuous growth of the industry, can only be achieved from biofuels and new technologies. However, radically new technology such as hybrids, electric aircrafts, fuel cells, sustainable aviation fuels or nanotechnology are still some years ahead before reaching maturity.

Innovative technologies are already underway. Last year Honeywell announced its first hybrid-electric turbogenerator, which will be installed on the first generation of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. It is estimated that the generator will decrease carbon emissions between 30 and 50 percent compared to the HTS900 engine. This hybrid engine will contribute to a quieter, safer and cleaner future transportation.

Honeywell UOP produces drop-in alternative jet fuel. The alternative fuel has a high blend ration compared to what is currently developed in the market for sustainable fuels, can reduce emissions up to 85% and a has lower fuel density, while meeting the reliability requirements of traditional jet fuel.