For those of us fleeing to warmer climes to escape the upcoming winter, spare a thought for our environment. Yes, as environmentalists (or, as seems to be the norm; environ-mentalists. Oh dear) we do always give thought to the greener possibilities in our lives. When we do fly around, perhaps many of us peruse carbon calculators in an attempt to give an idea of just how many species or planets our lovely trip to the Maldives have cost the Earth (guilt trip?). You can look here for a few example carbon calculators;
1) http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/
2) http://carboncalculator.com/
3) http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
4) http://www.carboncalculator.co.uk/
The sheer variety of carbon calculators – most from reputable sources – is overwhelming. However instead of utilising a calculator, why not compare how the airlines themselves are performing regarding their carbon emissions. This article shall present a summary of the Brighter Planet report into aviation to compare the carbon emissions and efficiency levels of some of our most common airlines companies.
Airlines consume an astonishing 75 billion gallons of fuel per year [1] and add 3 trillion pounds of carbon dioxide to our atmosphere. As a result, airline carriers are persistently facing the brunt of blame over environmental deterioration or carbon emissions. However, the efficiency of an airline is dependant upon a range of factors for example; aircraft used, the routes taken and the payloads within and, as such, there are mass variations between the carbon emissions of each airline. To explore and compare airlines, Brighter Planet assessed aspects such as the fuel economy of the fleet, seating density, freight share in the cargo-hold and, finally, of course, the distance of the flights. The key findings were:
The Most Efficient…
To achieve this analysis Brighter Planet looked at the average sum of fuel required to transport one pound of cargo or passenger in the average airline. In an international market, Cathay Pacific, United Airlines, Ryanair, Singapore Airlines and Delta proved most efficient among the world’s 20 largest carriers, whilst American Eagle were rated the worst with almost double the required fuel to transport passengers compared to Cathay Pacific.
Seating Density…
Like clowns in a mini, airliners try to cram as many passengers as possible within the aircraft to maximise passenger rate, return on fuel and economic return. It is worth noting that two airlines can have the same plane and engine, but with a different customised interior, thus affecting the capacity of passengers. Brighter Planet adopted a simple but stringent measurement by focussing upon a specific model (Airbus A320) which is in mass use throughout the industry. Taking the average number of seats across the industry within this plane, Brighter Planet then looked at the number of seats in the same plane in each company before dividing it by the average seat number for the industry to provide a coefficient. From this, the most efficient in terms of seating density are Easyjet, Ryanair and Cathay Pacific. The least efficient are British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France. British Airways, on average, had only a third of the number of seats as EasyJet. However this can be explained by Easyjets “no frills” approach compared to British Airways more spacious first class cabins, clearly taking up greater room and affectively costing “seating space”.
Passenger Load Factor…
Simply put; this is the number of filled seats on an average flight. Clearly having 100 seats with only 10 passengers within cannot be considered efficient. On this respect Brighter Planet has found Ryanair, Easyjet, Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines to be most efficient with each having upwards of 75% of seats occupied. In contrast Southwest Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa reported the least average occupancy rates, below the 75% load.
Freight Share…
This is the amount of space in a plane given over to commercial loads such as carrying mail etc. The higher the percentage, the greater the impact upon the average passenger’s carbon emission. In this respect, “no frills” airlines carried little – if any – additional cargo. Ryan-air, Easyjet Skywest Airlines, American Eagle and Expressjet Airlines reported carrying little if any additional cargo. Whilst Cathay Pacific and British Airways carried almost 30% and 20% respectively, thus leading to higher carbon emissions per passenger.
Distance…
Distance is, of course, a fundamental factor affecting the carbon emissions of a flight. With flight distances increasing steadily since 2003, Brighter Planet has looked at the average distance done by airlines. Short-haul flights are considered disastrous for carbon emissions, therefore longer flights equate to greener emission levels. In respect to the average distance Cathay Pacific, Air France and British Airways had the highest average length flights, whilst American Eagle, Skywest and ExpressJet Airways had the lowest leading to higher carbon emissions.
In Conclusion…
In a nutshell, overall Brighter Planet found that with all factors considered, the most efficient five airlines are:
1) Ryanair
2) Cathay Pacific
3) Easyjet
4) Continental Airlines
5) United Airlines.
And, at the other end of the spectrum, the worst five are:
1) American Eagle (emitting more than double the sum of carbon dioxide than Ryanair!)
2) Skywest Airlines
3) ExpressJet Airlines
4) Southwest Airlines
5) Lufthansa
It should be noted however that whilst airline companies consistently improve and renew their planes (with no Easyjet plane older than 3 ½ years) so too do carriers adopt alternative means to offset carbon. Easyjet, as an example, offer customers an option to offset their carbon by paying a small surcharge which goes towards UN approved carbon offsetting initiatives. This article hopes to have given a brief introduction to the Brighter Planet report and hopes to help you to understand just how carbon efficient your regular or preferred airline company truly is.
The Brighter Planet report can be found here:
[1] http://brighterplanet.com/
