Aviation industry boss Willie Walsh has urged international governments to become more committed to the decarbonisation of the airline industry and the building of its sustainable future.
He said the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) will be key to the cleaning of the industry and that decarbonisation remains an achievable goal by 2050. However, he warned the industry can’t do it alone and needs more government help.
Mr Walsh – the director general of aviation industry group the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – said: “Aviation’s decarbonisation requires governments to be equally committed. Agreeing to a Long Term Aspirational Goal through ICAO that mirrors the industry’s net zero by 2050 goal is not enough. We need a policy framework to support success.”
Speaking, this week, at the 2023 AGM of the Arab Air Carriers Organisation (AACO), in Saudi Arabia, Mr Walsh said: “Decarbonising our industry is a huge challenge. But getting to net zero CO2 by 2050 will secure our future and that is a great opportunity—albeit not an easy one to achieve.
“Once again, we can learn from Europe and the mistakes that they are making in this critical area. Suppressing growth and pricing flying to a point that is beyond the reach of the majority of Europeans, may appear an attractive option for the political elite in Brussels but it ignores the massive economic contribution that aviation makes and the opportunity that aviation represents in other parts of the world.”
In his keynote speech, Mr Walsh added: “We believe that it is possible and credible to decarbonise our industry while continuing to facilitate its growth and economic contribution. The various roadmaps that we published earlier this year outlining the path to net zero, confirm our longstanding assumption that Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) will be the major contributor to the industry’s decarbonisation. We estimate that SAF will account for about 62% of the decarbonisation that we will need…
