The chief sustainability officer of Asia’s largest finances airline, AirAsia, has mentioned {that a} tax on individuals who fly regularly won’t work in Asia, a area she mentioned has “particular financial progress and decarbonisation priorities”.
A worldwide frequent flyer levy has been mooted as a option to hold a lid on greenhouse gasoline emissions from aviation, that are projected to extend by an element of two to 4 occasions 2015 ranges by 2050 on the present charge of business enlargement, with Asia among the many fastest-growing areas. Aviation at present accounts for about 2 per cent of worldwide emissions.
Such a levy – which might focus the tax burden on wealthier frequent flyers – might generate revenues in direction of the annual funding of US$121 billion that Worldwide Civil Aviation Group (ICAO) estimates is required for the aviation sector to achieve its 2050 internet zero local weather goal, in line with a examine by United States-based non-profit analysis group Worldwide Council on Clear Transportation (ICCT).
A frequent flyer levy would assist make sure that decrease earnings passengers are usually not priced out of air journey due to local weather coverage, in line with ICCT.
One other measure to cap aviation emissions emerged in Spain this week. The European nation banned some short-haul home flights the place there’s a rail alterative as a part of its nationwide plan to chop emissions by 2050.
Yap Mun Ching, AirAsia’s chief sustainability officer, instructed Eco-Enterprise that neither coverage would work in Asia. “Now we have to legislate based mostly on the realities we face in Asia, not copy what Europe does.”
Aviation laws for Asia ought to be crafted with consideration for the “particular financial progress and decarbonisation priorities” of various international locations across the area, she mentioned.
Whereas acknowledging the significance of exploring a spread of options to decarbonise the business, she mentioned that it is very important prioritise methods “which are efficient and tailor-made to the distinctive wants of the Asian aviation business”.
Air journey is predicted to hit a historic excessive of 4.7 billion individuals travelling by airplane in 2024, some 4 per cent greater than the extent of journey earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic, in line with information from Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation (IATA). Asia accounts for a couple of third of all air journey.
AirAsia has a market share of greater than half (54 per cent) of all flights in Malaysia, in line with 2022 information from the corporate, and a rising share of worldwide journey elsewhere in Asia. The airline flies to 25 international locations.
In a LinkedIn publish earlier this week, Yap entered the controversy surrounding Singapore’s announcement of a carbon levy, which is able to imply that by 2026 air travellers coming out and in of the city-state might want to pay extra for filghts to assist fund the price of sustainable aviation gasoline (SAF).
“Airways have constantly been pressured to decarbonise whereas being anticipated to maintain fares reasonably priced. That is unrealistic and unsustainable given how costly decarbonisation choices comparable to SAF are,” she mentioned.
AirAsia’s view is that governments ought to set decarbonisation targets and help airways to fulfill these targets, however on the identical time, “there ought to be acceptance by air travellers that airfares should be adjusted to internalise the carbon price of air journey – this can be a reality,” she mentioned. The finances airline’s chief govt Tony Fernandes has additionally weighed in on the dialogue, saying that regulators ought to enhance air visitors administration at airports in order that airways can burn much less gasoline.
SAF is “not the panacea to decarbonisation,” Yap mentioned, whereas acknowledging that it’s AirAsia’s accountability as an airline is to take motion wanted to fulfill decarbonisation targets “utilizing all pathways considering enterprise viability and technological feasibility.”
The precedence for airways is to chop out waste attributable to inefficiencies in operations and airspace administration, she mentioned. “In any other case, even when we utilise SAF, we might be burning what we don’t must burn.”
“For each greenback we spend on SAF, it is a chance price of investing in upgrades which may completely cut back wastage. Airways want to have the ability to stability out their expenditure taking all elements into consideration,” she mentioned.
At AirAsia’s inaugural sustainability day held final yr, Yap mentioned that AirAsia’s prime decarbonisation priorities are in upgrading its fleet to the A321neo, which most aviation business gamers see as essentially the most fuel-efficient plane in the marketplace immediately, and increasing its gasoline effectivity programme.
