INDUSTRY figures have hit out at Predict and Decide, an Oxford University study that concludes cheap air travel is fuelling climate change and Government policies to expand aviation are incompatible with tackling global warming.
Federation of Tour Operators’ director-general Andy Cooper dismissed the report as “spurious academic research” and an EasyJet spokeswoman accused its authors of “sloppy thinking”.
European Tour Operators’ Association executive director Tom Jenkins said: “Airlines only account for 3% of emissions and have no option to use other fuels.”
The report, launched this week by a cross-party committee of MPs, warns that by 2050 carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft could be up to 10 times higher than in 1990.
It rejects several of the key arguments deployed by the industry in lobbying ministers and responding to environmentalists.
The industry argues the economic benefit of flying outweighs the environmental impact. But the report says: “The economic benefits from aviation are offset by the public revenue lost through tax exemptions and environmental damage.”
It points out that the rise in domestic tourism following the September 11 terror attacks, when some people shunned flying, resulted in an overall £555 million boost to the UK economy.
The industry also says air travel is a relatively unimportant source of emissions, while the report concludes that aircraft emissions could make up two-thirds of the UK’s total by 2050.
Meanwhile, the industry claims cheap fares benefit the lower-paid, and the report says: “Three out of four leisure passengers at UK airports are from the top three socio-economic groups.”
Cooper called the report “a series of prejudices rolled out as a piece of research”. But he said: “The industry now accepts emissions trading is the way to go.”