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A senior director at the world’s largest airline has warned that the industry has “lost the battle” in the environmental debate and it could take a decade for carriers to restore their reputation.
Air France-KLM vice-chairman Leo van Wijk said the industry passed up an opportunity to take the initiative in the green debate eight years ago and now it would pay the price. In an extraordinary outburst at the annual general meeting of the Iata airline trade association, Van Wijk dismissed executives’ opinions on the issue as “BS”.
He said: “What I hear is a lot of BS – I think we have lost the battle already. I don’t think the customer is interested to hear that we have a great story. We know damn sure that within a reasonable timeframe there is no way that we can diminish it (carbon emissions).”
Van Wijk, who is well-known for his outspoken views, said he warned executives about global warming in 1999 and was greeted with “lukewarm applause”.
Although aviation accounts for only 1.6 per cent of global CO2 emissions, it dominates much of the debate on climate change and campaigners target it as an industry whose growth must be reined in.
“Because we have let six or seven years go by without taking the issue seriously, I think that until five or 10 years down the road we will be on the defensive. In the meantime, politicians will have free rein to do what they want,” he said.
The Air France-KLM boss also criticised airlines for turning to the topic only recently: “Within six months we have all these believers in the audience.”
His outburst came as Iata set a zero-emission target for airlines by 2057, including building biofuel-powered planes and creating emissions trading for the industry.
Malaysia Airlines chief executive Idris Jala told the annual meeting: “Realistically, technologically, I don’t believe we can achieve zero emissions.”
But he said striving for the target would make the industry a “winner” because it would still produce massive environmental benefits.
Boeing vice-president Michael Cave called the target “a bridge too far” and said a carbon-neutral goal was a more realistic target.
The environmental debate has gone from a side-issue at last year’s Iata meeting to the dominant subject in the industry. Even a small panel of executives had differing opinions, with Mexicana chief executive Emilio Romano blaming the environmental row on “protectionist” European states.
However, the panel agreed that airlines had to be more active in the environmental debate or they would face firmer government action, such as the UK’s recent doubling of air passenger duty.
Virgin Atlantic chief executive Steve Ridgway said airlines were “behind” in the green public relations battle and “need to be in the forefront as much as we can”.
He said European governments alone could do more by combining more than 20 different air traffic control systems in a “single skies” move that would make flying across the continent much more efficient and save an estimated 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.
By Dan Milmo
