We have already passed the lowest point of the crisis, IATA is adamant
Airlines around the world are committed to reducing their harmful CO2 emissions to zero by 2050, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which held its annual meeting in Boston, USA on Monday. The organization brings together 290 companies, which provide 82% of global travel and transportation of goods by air.
“Global airlines have made a critical decision to achieve sustainability. Recovery in the sector after COVID-19 will be linked to reducing emissions,” said IATA Executive Director Willie Walsh after the meeting. The former CEO of British Airways and then of the International Airlines Group (which includes the national carriers of Great Britain and Spain) took over the operational management of the organization last year.
“The collective efforts of airlines and government measures to support them must allow the industry to reduce its harmful CO2 emissions to zero by 2050,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
Such a task is quite ambitious for a sector that has just begun to recover from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, writes the Financial Times. The decarbonisation of the aviation industry, which accounts for 2% of global emissions, is a very serious commitment, and IATA acknowledges that this challenge is significant.
“Decarbonising the industry is a real challenge, but we believe there is a credible path to that goal,” Walsh said.
Among the measures that the airlines plan to take is the active use of environmentally friendly aviation fuels (SAF), which are currently produced in insufficient quantities. In addition, air carriers are looking forward to new technologies to improve the efficiency of the infrastructure and the use of the electric and hydrogen engines industry.
Walsh noted that the two largest aircraft manufacturers in the world – the American Boeing and the united European Airbus, are not doing enough to develop new technologies to reduce emissions.
Chinese airlines have demanded that the aviation industry’s target of zero emissions be postponed until 2060, the FT said. However, according to Walsh, European carriers are already feeling the pressure of governments and the need to speed up the deadlines for achieving this goal.
Losses in the aviation sector will decline sharply in 2022 amid continuing recovery from the coronary crisis, IATA predicts, and estimates of losses suffered in the 2020 and 2021 pandemics have been revised downwards, which were presented in Boston.
IATA experts expect airlines’ net losses to fall to $ 11.6 billion in 2022 from $ 51.8 billion this year. According to previous estimates released in April, the losses for 2021 were estimated at $ 47.7 billion.
Losses for 2020 are now estimated at $ 137.7 billion, according to final figures, compared to $ 126.4 billion in the April IATA report. Regarding the revaluation, the organization’s executive director said: “We have already passed the lowest point of the crisis.”
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