BA one of dirtiest airlines on transatlantic routes
British Airways and Lufthansa burn more fuel and emit more environmentally damaging CO2 than any other carrier flying between Europe and the US, a new study has found.
They came joint bottom of a league table of the most fuel efficient airlines crossing the transatlantic last year, which was topped by budget airline Norwegian Air.
The study by the International Council on Clean Transportation found that BA passengers typically travelled only 27 kms per litre of fuel while at the other end of the scale Norwegian Air passengers travelled 40 kms per litre.
The fuel-efficiency gap between the most and least fuel-efficient airlines was 51%, and the top three fuel-guzzling carriers – BA, Lufthansa and SAS – were collectively responsible for a fifth of available seat kilometres.
The ICCT found that the most important factors affecting fuel burn were seating configuration and aircraft fuel efficiency. "The impact of premium seating on emissions is substantial: first class and business seats accounted for only 14% of available seat kilometers flown on transatlantic routes but approximately one-third of total carbon emissions," it said.
"For carriers like British Airways and Swiss, premium seating was responsible for almost one-half of their total emissions from passenger travel."
It also pointed out that airline with newer aircraft performed better. "Airlines that have invested in new, advanced aircraft (e.g., Norwegian Air Shuttle) are significantly more fuel-efficient than airlines flying older planes, highlighting the crucial role of technology (and thus performance standards) in driving down fuel consumption and associated carbon emissions," it added.
Norwegian launched flights from Gatwick in 2013 and now operates two Boeing 787s from the airport to New York, Los Angeles, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. It will add flights to Boston next May.
BA issued the following statement: "We are very proud of our environmental performance and take our environmental responsibilities very seriously.
"Our carbon emissions performance continues to improve with the introduction of new, more fuel efficient aircraft. By the end of 2016 we will have 12 A380s, 24 787s with a further 18 to come. In 2018 we will start taking delivery of 18 A350s. We have also developed innovative operational procedures which have been adopted by other carriers to increase fuel efficiency.
"British Airways has improved its carbon efficiency by 10 per cent between 2005 and 2014 (from 110.8 grammes of CO2 per passenger kilometre in 2005 to 100.1 grammes of CO2 per passenger kilometre in 2014). We are on track to deliver our target of 83gCO2/pkm which means 25 per cent improvement by 2025.
"A better approach to the research would have been to look at airlines’ global operations rather than segment one region."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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