Analysis of the trends in air traffic and CO2 emissions within the European Union

• Main Authors: Nieto, Ana, Alonso, Gustavo, Cubas Cano, Javier
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: E.T.S. de Ingeniería Aeronáutica y del Espacio (UPM) 2019
• Subjects: Aeronáutica; Iceland
• Online Access: https://oa.upm.es/65249/

The rebound of air traffic after the economic crisis and the development of the emerging countries have led an increase in the CO2 emissions that the technological improvements have not been able to restrain so far. And although these emissions are reduced in comparison with the global total, if the projected growth estimates are met, air traffic would become one of the most polluting sectors in the next few years. That is why several organizations have proposed and implemented measures to counteract and reduce emissions, such as the European Union 2008/101/EC directive, the CORSIA program from ICAO or the commitment of the IATA member airlines of stabilizing the CO2 emissions from 2020. The purpose of this study, which is a continuation of previous work from the Department of Aerospace Systems, Air Transport and Airports from the ETSIAE, is to analyse the evolution of the air traffic in the European Union and its emissions, trying to evaluate the impact of the new technologies, regulations and business strategies of the airlines and to compare them between regions and between types of flights. The methodology is bases on the analysis of the EUROCONTROL flight database, which includes all the flights from and to its territory plus Iceland and Azerbaijan, and the Eurostat statistics. The results of the study capture the evolution of the air traffic and its emission in the EU28+2 region: they show the constant growth of the number of flights and emissions before the crisis of 2008, the speed of the following recovery, the variation of the type of flights and change of the composition of the market, including the relevance of low-cost air carriers and the consolidation of the market. The progressive change of the emissions behaviour is discussed and compared with other means of transport. The different analysis generated provide useful information for different stakeholders and the positive results reflected should serve as a motivation to continue working towards the improvement and development of new technologies ...