Aviation Sustainability and the Environment, CAPA 16-Apr-2020

The aviation industry is using the downturn in air traffic as a result of COVID-19 to implement additional measures to reduce the environmental impact of aviation. CANSO - the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation - in association with IATA, A4E, ERA, AIRE, IFATCA and the EUROCONTROL Network Manager, is launching an ambitious environmental initiative to facilitate 'Perfect Flights' while traffic volumes are lower than usual.

Tanja Grobotek, CANSO Director Europe Affairs explains: "Air navigation service providers (ANSPs) across Europe are still playing a vital role enabling the transportation of urgent medical supplies and food, and the repatriation of individuals, but clearly traffic numbers are much lower than before the pandemic. So CANSO and our partners are using this downtime to facilitate optimum flight paths that will deliver environmental and economic benefits by reducing fuel burn, emissions, noise and fuel costs."

Normally, in order to manage traffic safely and efficiently into and out of busy airspace, ANSPs apply airspace restrictions to maximise capacity, reduce complexity and organise aircraft into specific flows. These restrictions may however contribute to reducing horizontal and/or vertical flight efficiency. In the current low-level traffic scenario, most of these airspace restrictions can be lifted, which enables more direct routes and allows aircraft to fly their optimal vertical profiles. "There is no reason right now why an aircraft should not be flying its 'perfect flight,'" Tanja Grobotek added.

This initiative is testament to CANSO, IATA, A4E ERA, AIRE, IFATCA and the EUROCONTROL Network Manager's commitment to reducing aviation's carbon emissions - both today and in the future.

The Trump administration proposed new rules today that would pave the way for the return of commercial supersonic airplane travel. The new rules would allow commercial supersonic aircraft, which have been banned for almost 50 years, to be noisier at takeoff and landing than new conventional jets.

"Allowing supersonic aircraft to fly would be a disaster for our climate," said Clare Lakewood, climate legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "The pollution from existing planes is already a major threat to public health that the FAA is ignoring. The current reduction in air traffic, and the cleaner air we now breathe, should be reasons for the Trump administration to adopt measures to protect people and the climate from conventional aircraft, not excuses to pave the way for super-polluting supersonics."

It's projected that supersonic planes would burn five to seven times more fuel per passenger than standard aircraft. In a study released last year, the International Council on Clean Transportation concluded that a new fleet of supersonic planes would emit 96 million metric tons of carbon pollution every year. They are also projected to exceed subsonic limits for nitrogen oxides by 40%. Exposure to nitrogen oxides is linked to respiratory disease, heart attacks and strokes.

The new rules, which set noise standards for supersonic aircraft at takeoff and landing, have been proposed as a result of provisions included in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. That Act required the Federal Aviation Authority to start setting certification standards that will let commercial supersonic jets fly in U.S. airspace, and to consider repealing the ban on civilian supersonic flight over U.S. land.

"We shouldn't have choke on dirty air just so a few people can shave an hour off a cross-country flight," Lakewood said.

Overland commercial supersonic travel was banned in 1971, with Republican White House officials at the time citing noise pollution and dangerous emissions levels. The new rules do not propose to lift the ban on commercial supersonic flight over land.

Commercial aviation already accounts for 12% of all U.S. transportation CO2 emissions and 2.4% of CO2 emissions around the globe. This number is expected to grow in the coming decade if the industry does not adopt long-overdue emissions guidelines - and that's before factoring in the increased pollution sure to accompany supersonic planes.

New Zealand downstream firm Z Energy reported an 83pc slide in jet fuel sales to 2.41mn litres (15,100 bl) in the week to 5 April compared with an average of 89,000 bl/week in the four weeks to 22 March, before the country imposed travel restrictions to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Z Energy is one of three wholesalers in New Zealand's jet fuel market, along with BP and ExxonMobil. Z Energy bought Chevron's New Zealand assets in 2016. It buys oil products from the country's sole refinery, the 139,000 b/d Marsden Point that Z Energy has a 15.4pc stake in as a partner in Refining NZ. The refinery does not sell direct to consumers and only sells to wholesalers.

The fall in Z Energy's jet fuel sales are consistent with flight activity by national airline Air New Zealand, which has cut its flight capacity by 95pc since the coronavirus outbreak. The New Zealand government progressively imposed travel restrictions from February. Air New Zealand started cutting flight capacity in February.

By Kevin Morrison

Australia's jet fuel sales slumped in February to their lowest level since June 2016 from the impact of Covid-19 amid airlines cutting services and visitor restrictions.

Total jet fuel sales dropped to 147,500 b/d in February from 163,000 b/d a year earlier and down by 12pc from the 168,000 b/d the previous month. It was the lowest daily average for a month since June 2016 when it averaged 147,300 b/d, according to Australian Petroleum Statistics data.

The sharpest fall was for sales for international flights from Australia, which dropped to 91,500 b/d in February from 104,000 b/d a year earlier and down by 17pc from 110,000 b/d in January. It was the lowest daily average for a month since the 88,500 b/d in November 2017.

The slump in international sales reflected a large drop in the number of passengers departing Australia in February, which totalled 1.29mn against 1.52mn in February 2019 and down by 34pc from 1.97mn passengers in January. It the lowest number of passengers departing in a single month since February 2015 when 1.24mn passengers departed, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Australian domestic jet fuel sales fell to 56,000 b/d in February from 58,800 b/d a year earlier and down from 58,000 b/d in January. This was the lowest monthly level since June 2019 when 55,900 b/d was consumed.

Australia's domestic jet fuel consumption is significantly influenced by inbound tourists that fly to multiple locations during their visit. The number of short-term visitors to Australia dropped to a four-year low of 647,000 visitors in February, the lowest level since 646,300 in February 2016. February's arrivals were down by 12.5pc from the 739,000 visitors in January, which marked a steeper fall from the 796,000 visitors in February 2019.

Visitor numbers from China, where the coronavirus outbreak first emerged earlier this year, totalled 19,000 in Februarythat was the lowest in 16 years when 19,200 visitors arrived in February 2004. Chinese visitors accounted for only 3pc of all short-term visitors in February compared with an average of 15pc in 2019. Canberra started restrictions on travellers from China to Australia on 1 February.

Australia's jet fuel imports dropped to an eight-month low of 83,700 b/d in February, up on the 75,500 b/d imported during February 2019 but down by 22pc from the 108,000 b/d imported in January. It was the lowest monthly volume of jet fuel imports since the 75,000 b/d in June 2019.

Australia's four refineries produced 62,000 b/d of jet fuel in February, which was relatively steady with January's 62,300 b/d but below the 73,000 b/d produced in February 2019.