Environment
Time for governments to step up
February 1st 2013
Huge strides have been made in the development of biofuels for aviation, but there is still a long way to go before they become widely available for commercial airline operations. Read More » And if governments don’t come to the party in a big way, it will take even longer.
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| Paul Steele, director, aviation environment, IATA: the industry can only do so much |
Said Paul Steele, the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) director, aviation environment: “We face what we call the valley of death between technical development and flight trials – where we are now – and the full scale commercialization, production of biofuels and delivery to our aircraft.”
To get to the finishing line much more help is required from governments, he added. “The willingness is there from the airlines, the technology is available. But the industry can only do so much. It also needs help from governments,” said Steele.
“Perhaps, most importantly, governments need to look at the current legislation and see where it restricts the access for aviation biofuels. It would also be useful to prioritize biofuels for aviation and other transport sectors which don’t have alternative fuel sources other than liquid.”
IATA has developed a six- point plan for government support for a sustainable and commercially viable aviation biofuel industry, he said. It included the need to foster research, provide investment, establish global sustainability criteria, support supply chain collaboration, de-risk investments and understand where the local opportunities are.
“There is the opportunity for governments to get in behind aviation with a quick win in partially de-carbonising a sector. There is a big incentive to do so. Since 2003, the fuel cost has gone from 14% to 30% of [airline] operating costs,” said Steele.
“Because 10% of liquid transport fuel use is for aviation, delivering biofuels to aviation is a smaller challenge than delivering biofuels to other transport sectors in general.”
He also pointed out that aviation has a concentrated distribution system. Some 190 airports cover 80% of passenger traffic.
In the past two years, more than 1,500 commercial flights, using a mix of normal fuel and biofuel, have taken place.
