The chief executive of Jet2 has urged on the government to “pull its finger out” and complete its ongoing airspace modernisation programme to reduce the carbon footprint of aviation.
Steve Heapy told delegates at the operator’s annual conference in Paphos, Cyprus that airspace modernisation would reduce the sector’s carbon dioxide emissions by between 12-14%.
The Civil Aviation Authority launched a “delivery plan” for the “full-scale modernisation” of UK airspace by 2040 in July, urging collaboration across the industry “to make it a success”.
This was followed by the Department for Transport (DfT) starting a consultation in October on a proposal to establish a UK Airspace Design Service, which would consist of aviation experts working with airports to improve “highways in the sky” flown by aircraft.
Much of how the UK’s airspace is used dates back to the 1950s, when there were fewer flights and aircraft navigated using ground-based beacons, and Heapy called on the government to act swiftly when implementing changes.
“When airlines fly, they don’t fly in a straight line,” said Heapy. “Planes fly in a sort of zigzag way; it’s a bit like driving from one town to another on B roads rather than the motorway.
“What we need is for airspace to be modernised so you can just fly in a straight line.”
He added: “We’re calling on the government to pull their finger out and modernise airspace, because that will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and that allow the price [of flying] to stay lower.”
Heapy also called for a price stability mechanism so that SAF plants are built in the UK, which would mean the fuel is not “imported in big polluting tankers” from overseas.
“The price of SAF is very high and that’s because the government has not yet legislated for a revenue certainty mechanism, so companies won’t invest in the UK until this is in place,” he explained.
“So ironically, when we buy our SAF, we can’t buy it from the UK. We have to buy it from overseas.
“We buy it from some far-flung place and it’s sent across the sea in a big, polluting oil tanker. That’s the how ridiculous the situation is, and again it’s increasing costs for customers.”
He added: “The government has said 2% of our fuel has to be SAF. We would normally pay £16m for that 2%, but because it’s four times more expensive, instead of paying 16m quid for the 2% we’re going to pay £64m.”
He said the airline industry is responsible for just 2.4% of global carbon dioxide emissions and pointed to other industries which are “far worse than ours” such as farming, fast fashion and server farms, questioning why they do not suffer the same “punitive measures”.
“Have you ever heard of a cement tax, a livestock tax, a red meat tax, a T-shirt tax, a crop burning tax, a server farm tax, a Bitcoin coin tax? No, but what you have heard of is taxation on air travel – this is what governments are doing more and more,” he said.
Heapy shared his view that the policies are “designed to make air travel unaffordable for the poorest members of society” and called on delegates to lobby their MPs to reduce taxation and prevent it from risingin future.
In response to a question from an agent in the audience, Heapy said he would be “happy to pen a letter and put a fact sheet together” to send to Jet2’s agent partners that they could then share with their local MPs.