In recent weeks Cheapflights has been chronicling the first spate of bio-fueled flights by US airlines. The steps are just tiny ones right now, but over the coming years powering airplanes with something besides the residue of dead dinosaurs could well become common – and some projections are we’d all benefit from it.
International Air Transport Association Director General and CEO Tony Tyler talked about bio-fuels in Paris recently. What he said matters, because bio-fuels will help determine the places you can fly in the future and how much you’ll pay. Airlines have been cutting back of late on routes to a number of cities, and one of the prime reasons is the price of conventional petroleum. If the routes do still exist, chances are you pay more to make the trip.
While Tyler says present bio-fuels “are still expensive,” and that “the supply is limited” they possess “the potential to be a game changer.” Over its lifecycle, the IATA chief says this new way of propelling airplanes has the potential “to cut aviation’s carbon footprint by 80 percent.”
The key to making this work? “We need to commercialize [bio-fuels] says Tyler. “There is an opportunity for both our traditional [fuel] suppliers and new entrants to engage in this exciting development. We need to work together.”
Tyler says to render bio-fuels commercially workable the industry needs to:
- Research new feedstocks and refining processes.
- Take some of the risk out of investment in aviation bio-fuels.
- Give airlines an incentive to use bio-fuels in these early stages.
- Commit to “robust” international sustainability criteria.
- Make the most of localized “green growth” opportunities.
- Promote coalitions that encompass all areas of the bio-fuel supply chain.
Exciting stuff? Maybe not. But it’s the kind of stuff that could go a long way in determining how much you’ll pay for airline tickets in this second decade of the new millennium.
So, are you sold on bio-fuels as an eventual way to save your travel budget, and perhaps part of the planet at the same time? Tell us.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: Ton Rulkens)
