Thursday, July 8th, 2010

In a move that bodes well for the environment but may put pressure on cheap fares, be they cheap airplane tickets or cheap vacation packages, Britain has decided to curb the growth of its airports by refusing to build additional runways around London to handle more departures. Since demand appears to be growing for additional flights, prices will likely rise if supply is unable to keep up.

Britain’s Prime Minister, pointing to the high levels of greenhouse gas emissions from planes, canceled plans to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport and said he would refuse to approve new runways at Gatwick and Stansted airports. The government has announced it is determined to meet its goal of curbing aviation emissions. Britain’s 2008 Climate Change Act requires a minimum of a 34 percent reduction in total emissions by 2020 vs. a 1990 baseline.

Britain believes that the approximately 220,000 flights that would accompany the opening of a third runway at Heathrow would make it difficult, if not impossible, to meet its emissions reduction target.

In the U.S. business priorities have usually prevailed over concerns about climate change. New runways were opened in ‘08 at Chicago O’Hare, Seattle-Tacoma and Washington Dulles airports.

In the past, airport expansion plans have sometimes been changed or canceled out of concerns over noise or ground level pollution. Britain is the only country to date that is restraining airport expansion based on climate considerations.

It is believed that emissions from air travel are responsible for 2 to 3 percent of global emissions. However, the proportion is higher in developed countries and emissions from aviation are growing faster than those of any other sector.

Britain believes that aviation emissions accounted for 6 percent of the country’s carbon dioxide emission in ’06. However it forecasts aviation contributing up to a 25 percent of those emissions by ’30.

The number of general aviation hours in the U.S. is expected to grow by almost 3 percent a year, and be 60 percent greater by ’25 than it is now.
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