VIEWPOINT 6/2019 Business Spotlight 33Fotos: Trevor Fisher, iStockphoto/iStock.com
“The airline industry
is running
out of runway”
Reisen mit dem Flugzeug steht neuerdings wegen der
schlechten Umweltbilanz immer öfter in der Kritik.
Die Luftfahrtbranche muss sich neuen Herausforderungen
stellen. Müssen wir unser Flugverhalten überdenken?
ADVANCEDabstention [əbˈstenʃ&n]
, Enthaltung, Enthaltsam-
keit
account: ... ~s for...
[əˈkaʊnt]
, auf ... entfällt ...
aisle [aɪ&l] , Gang
apparently [əˈpærəntli]
, anscheinend
at volume [)Ät (vɒljuːm]
, lautstark
aviation [ˌeɪviˈeɪʃ&n]
, Luftfahrt
break the bank
[)breɪk ðə (bæŋk] ifml.
, hier: den (eigenen)
Finanzrahmen sprengencarbon offsetting
[ˈkɑːbən )ɒfsetɪŋ]
, Emissionshandel
earwig
[ˈɪəwɪɡ] UK ifml.
, lauschen;
hier: (mit)hören
ease sth. [iːz]
, etw. lindern
forecast sth.
[ˈfɔːkɑːst]
, etw. prognostizieren
fuel [ˈfjuːəl]
, Treibstoff
greenhouse gas
[ˌɡriːnhaʊs (ɡæs]
, Treibhausgasleisure [ˈleʒə]
, Freizeit
occur to sb. [əˈkɜː tu]
, hier: jmdm. in den Sinn
kommen
offset sth. [)ɒf(set]
, etw. ausgleichen,
kompensieren
run out of runway
[rʌn )aʊt əv (rʌnweɪ]
, Anspielung auf run out
of road = in einer schwieri-
gen Lage stecken
(runway
, Start-/Landebahn)
underscore sth.
[ˌʌndəˈskɔː]
, etw. betonenELISABETH RIBBANS
is a British
journalist and
editorial consul
tant. She is also
a former managing
editor of The
Guardian in London.Á
Contact: eribbans@
gmail.comA
waiting take-off from a Span-
ish airport earlier this summer,
I heard a couple across the aisle
arguing with the cabin manager
because, as far as I could earwig,
they had not been able to sit
in the extra-legroom seats for
which they had paid. “We are
Silver Club members,” they protested,
as anyone might do when seeking to un-
derscore customer loyalty. And then they
repeated this fact at volume several times.
Apparently, it was an ordinary conver-
sation, but with climate change looking
ever more urgent and catastrophic, I won-
dered how long it would be before your
(very) frequent-flier status was something
you’d want to keep quiet rather than an-
nounce publicly.
Just days after this thought had oc-
curred to me, I noticed the term “flight
shame” and its accusatory cousin “flight-
shaming” popping up in numerous news
articles and blog posts. Flight shame is the
guilt you feel when you hop on a plane
from, say, London to New York and know
that you’re responsible for adding a ton
of CO 2 to the atmosphere. I’m guessing
another ton of self-justification can ease
the symptoms — because it has helped in
my case — but the only real hope of a cure
is abstention.
According to European Commission
figures, global aviation emissions are fore-
cast to be 70 per cent higher in 2020 than
they were in 2005, while passenger num-
bers are expected to double over the next20 years. The airline industry, which accounts for more than
two per cent of global greenhouse gases, is engaged in various
initiatives to reduce its impact, ranging from carbon offsetting
to alternative jet fuels. The problem is that they are running out
of runway; UN scientists have warned that we could be facing
disaster unless there is “rapid and far-reaching” action on climate
change by 2030.
Reducing demand has to be part of the plan. As I consider the
effect on my work and leisure of “offsetting” the four return flights
I will have taken this year by taking none until 2023, I would love
to hear from readers about how they feel about flying in a warm-
ing world. Have you said no to business flights for environmental
reasons, for example, or said yes just because it was cheaper than
going by road or rail? Are videoconferencing and live streaming
used as widely as they could be? Or are you perhaps confident that
technology will deliver clean aviation before it’s too late?
If you let me know your thoughts, I’ll return to the subject
in a later column. Meanwhile, I’m off to find a way to get from
Birmingham to Geneva without visiting an airport — or break-
ing the bank!