American Airlines CEO Doug Parker threw down the gauntlet at United Airlines over which airline is more environmentally conscious. Parker told employees last week that American’s fleet is more fuel efficient than United’s, and that’s more significant than United’s biofuel experiments.
The Airline Industry is Getting Much More Fuel Efficient
Modern jets are far more efficient than their predecessors, driven in part by $100 a barrel oil we saw at the start of the decade. Aircraft engineering advances do a lot of environmental work, and there have been over a dozen commercial flights powered with biofuel. International airline trade group IATA has committed to carbon-neutral airline growth starting next year, and a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050.
The biggest expenses airlines face are aircraft, labor, and fuel. High fuel prices drive airline concern over the environment. Reducing carbon foot print can save money provided the technology is cost-effective. Modern jets and the newest engines are far more efficient than ever. Still, flying accounts for an estimated 2% of the world’s carbon emissions (though some critics suggest it’s as high as 5%).
An employee assembles a LEAP jet engine at the General Electric Co. (GE) Aviation assembly plant in Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., on Friday, July 19, 2019. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
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American Airlines Says They’re Better for the Environment Than United Airlines
When a pilot asked American Airlines CEO Doug Parker about doing even more at an employee forum last week, a tape of which I’ve reviewed, the question included a claim that United planned to become “the most environmentally conscious airline in the world.” Parker took exception to that, saying:
I get annoyed by things like you read from United saying they’re the most environmentally conscious. They’re not. They’re flying around average airplanes that are 15 years old. We’re flying around an average fleet that’s 9 years old.
We’re much more environmentally friendly than United Airlines right now because we’ve invested in more fuel efficient aircraft.. They say that about some effort they’re doing with biofuels, so again good for them, not saying they shouldn’t do that. But having one airplane flying around with some biofuel testing as opposed to having a fleet of 1500 airplanes, 500 new airplanes while they’re flying 500 old airplanes around. We’re doing much better things for the environment than they are.
A Balanced Approach is Best
Even accounting for concern over the environmental effects of flying, air travel plays an important role connecting the world and air cargo is crucial delivering not just goods but also food.
There are many things we could do that would reduce resource consumption, even more than eliminating flights. People who care about their environmental footprint continue to have kids, even knowing that more kids means consuming more resources.
Just as we don’t want to eliminate flying we probably don’t want flying to be as environmentally efficient as possible. Not only would tickets be more expensive as a result of higher cost of alternative fuels (which would then encourage more people to consume resources driving, and flying is safer than driving) but if we took a purely environmental line we’d say that cabin densification is great for the environment.
New planes with new engines matter, but so does packing in as many passengers as possible into the same plane. As long as the plane is full the carbon burn per passenger will fall. Seen in this light, American’s first taking Boeing 737-800s from 150 seats to 160 seats (after US Airways management took over) and then to 172 seats (through the current Project Oasis reconfiguration with thinner, less padded seats and less distance between seats) is a good environmental play. There’s a comfort-environment tradeoff.
A balanced approach means technological innovation makes air travel possible while burning less fuel, which is good for airlines and good for the environment – and precisely the road map that airlines are following. Perhaps airline CEOs chiding each other to be more fuel efficient, as American’s Doug Parker does here, is part of how we get there.
