Sustainability Issues in Airline and Airport Industry - Assignment Example

Management Airbus S.A.S. Airbus S.A.S. (Setting the Standards) is an aircraft manufacturing company, which operates under Airbus Group. It is based in France and manufacturing units are spread worldwide mainly in Germany, Spain, France and United Kingdom. The company has manufactured around 630 airlines in 2013 (Airbus S.A.S., 2014a). In January 2007, Airbus was regarded as the first ever aerospace business to receive ISO 14001 certificate. The certification was directed at the entire group and not aircraft production only. The aircraft in association with JetBlue Airways and Honeywell had tried to reduce dependence on oil and pollution (Airbus S.A.S., 2014a).  The aircrafts are referred as sustainability villains by media since their production is affected by tax and environmental regulation. It has remained unaffected by the agreements made on emissions (Upham, 2003). The current emissions are recorded to increase by tonnes. So, global initiatives must be taken for limiting emission of carbon by way of abiding by Kyoto protocol (Deloitte, 2013). With ever increasing customer base, the airline is regarded as the largest contributor to global warming (International Civil Aviation Organization, 2009). The experts in the aviation industry have forecasted that there will be considerable increase in commercial jet fleet to 35,000 by 2025 all over (Deloitte, 2013). The carbon emission has been the main issue for aviation industry, which has greatly contributed towards destruction of global environment (Deloitte, 2013). 2) Sustainability issue The most important issue that Airbus has encountered, like all other aircraft manufacturing companies, is emission of carbon. Carbon emission is an alarming issue for every industry, but is highest in the aviation industry. When engines of aircraft burn fuel, it generates emissions that are similar to those from fossil fuel combustion. Nevertheless, emissions of aircraft are regarded as the most harmful and unusual in nature since it is emitted at high altitude. The emissions create significant environmental concerns, which affect global air quality. Airbus is facing this issue regarding emission, which have been a great challenge since environmental concerns are being prioritized by every nation (Airbus S.A.S., 2014a). 3) Issue regarding emission of CO2 Awareness regarding impact generated by actions of humans on environment has been growing since past few decades. Carbon emission is one of the biggest contributors towards climate change since CO2, the main greenhouse gas, is released from human activities. These activities are responsible for alteration in the carbon cycle as levels of CO2 are increasing, which is becoming hard to control over time. It has endangered existence of life on earth. The main source of increased CO2 emission is fossil fuel, which is required to generate energy for transportation and other industries (Airbus S.A.S., 2014a). It has been noticed that the global aviation industry have added immensely to the carbon emission. In 2011, the industry has contributed around 2% of emission of CO2 (constituting 676 million tonnes from the total emission of 34 billion tonnes worldwide) (Airbus S.A.S., 2014a). Similar to other aircraft manufacturing companies, Airbus has also encountered this challenge for quite a number of years and strived to mitigate the environmental impact by introducing new ideas. It has not only aimed at reducing emission of CO2, but also given efforts in lowering levels of other emissions linked with the change in climate and depleting quality of air. The company has attempted to bring about changes by innovating new technologies and entering into cross-industry partnerships (Burgess, 2012). The aviation industry has also faced the impact of noise pollution. As the aviation industry is trying to meet social and economic needs worldwide, effect of noise is becoming more prominent without proper land management. It is disturbing or harming communities that are situated near to the airports (Burgess, 2012). It is recorded that in last fifty years of operation, the number of people complaining about noise of aircraft has considerably increased. This has resulted from tremendous development in technological sector, which has allowed the aviation industry to cope up with the problem. Thus, it is noticed that 75% of noise has been reduced (Deloitte, 2013). Airbus has faced this problem to a large extent as their aircrafts used to make such noise, which disturbed communities residing close to the airports. This had become a serious issue for the company, but they were able to overcome this challenge by putting in effort to formulate technologies that are capable of eliminating or reducing noise pollution. 4) Four measures undertaken by Airbus for improving its performance Airbus has always believed in delivering harmless innovations and makes efforts for reducing harmful effects of carbon emission in the environment. The four measures taken by the company to eliminate the sustainability issue are described below. Firstly, Airbus has always believed that sustainable fuels are mainly allotted for aviation industry. The reason behind this belief is that there is no other source of energy sources that can support the aviation industry in coming years (Airbus S.A.S., 2014b; Airbus S.A.S., 2014d). The strategy of the company is to be a primary catalyst for searching sustainable solutions, which will lead to production of huge quantities of sustainable aviation fuel (Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2001). Research pertaining to sustainable aviation fuel is the fundamental measure undertaken by Airbus for reducing the impact of air transport on the environment. The company has lowered its overall CO2 footprint. The premise of Airbus is based on establishment of sustainable solutions in context of local communities present worldwide. The company has set such a goal as it regards multiple sources of supply to be a good solution. The main sources are from algae, jatropha, camelina, woodchips, yeast and organic waste. After the initial source is established, the next phase of development focuses on promoting commercial use of sustainable aviation fuels. This enables the aviation industry to meet the growth target of lowering carbon emissions by 2020. The main vision of Flightpath is to reduce 75% of CO2 by 2050 (Airbus S.A.S., 2014c; Airbus S.A.S., 2014b; Airbus S.A.S., 2014d). Secondly, the company undertook initiative so as to speed up commercialisation of sustainable aviation fuel in Europe. The company has also helped European Commission, the leader of European airlines and few other sustainable aviation fuel producers in Europe. This particular initiative is known as “European Advanced sustainable aviation fuel Flightpath” (Airbus S.A.S., 2014b). It is committed to promote and support the storage, production and distribution of sustainably produced aviation fuels for being used in the aviation industry. The main objective of the company is to achieve 2 million tonnes of production and consumption of sustainable aviation fuel by 2020. It represents about 4% of the aviation fuel, which is used in European Union (Blagnac, 2014). Thirdly, Airbus has engaged in a “memorandum of understanding with United Nations Environment Programme’s Convention on Biological Diversity” (Blagnac, 2014). The company has also signed for working in association with UN Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity for supporting The Green Wave campaign. This main goal of the initiative is to educate and engage young people around the world regarding rich forms of life on Earth, which hugely impacts the planet (Blagnac, 2014). Airbus has been providing huge effort for supporting the initiative as well as been able to influence others in aviation industry for supporting the noble work. For supporting Green Wave campaign, the company assemble its network of employees so as to help others gain knowledge regarding biodiversity during the annual International Day of Biodiversity. In previous annual programs, staff members of the company in China have helped children in Yunnan Province on preparing a garden for their school. The employees in United Kingdom have supplied mini-orchards to nearby institutions and schools. Airbus has encouraged airline manufacturers worldwide to contribute to the noble cause and has already secured about 30 partner airlines carrying 200 million passengers. Through these steps, other airline manufacturers have assured that they are in support of the initiative taken by Airbus (Airbus S.A.S., 2014a). Fourthly, in order to fulfil eco-efficiency goals, Airbus has decided to invest in continuous improvements of jetliner service. It has also invested in advanced technologies so as to enhance efficiency of a new aircraft. This initiative of the company is recognised as "Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative” of European Union (Airbus S.A.S., 2014d). This aims at developing new environmental friendly technologies with the ability to enhance competitiveness in the aeronautics sector of Europe. After cooperating with other aircraft manufacturers in Europe, the company has focused upon improving environmental impact of air transport through technological solutions, which will result in reduction of consumption of fuel, noise and CO2 emission (Airbus S.A.S., 2014d). Airbus has restated its commitment to Clean Sky programme on September 2012, which indicated that the company has agreed to guide the aerospace industry and other research companies in order to support the initiatives of Clean Sky 2. Clean Sky 2 is an addition to the original initiative and is scheduled to take place within 2014 to 2020. During this period, the aviation industry and European Commission will invest € 3.6 billion (Airbus S.A.S., 2014d). Airbus has also concentrated upon improving air traffic by participating in SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research). SESAR is created for improving control over the air traffic of Europe and lessen congestion at airport. This will in turn lower harmful impacts on the environment (Airbus S.A.S., 2014d). Reference List Airbus S.A.S., 2014a. Airbus for Customers. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2014]. Airbus S.A.S., 2014b. Sustainable Aviation Fuel. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2014]. Airbus S.A.S., 2014c. Future By Airbus. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2014]. Airbus S.A.S., 2014d. Airbus and COMAC To Cooperate On Sustainable Air Transport Growth. [online] Available at: < http://www.airbus.com/presscentre/pressreleases/press-release-detail/detail/airbus-and-comac-to-cooperate-on-sustainable-air-transport-growth/ > [Accessed 1 May 2014]. Blagnac, 2014. Airbus Forms A Sustainable Fuel Centre Of Excellence In Malaysia. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2014]. Burgess, J., 2012. Greening The Airways: How Airbus Plans To Make The Airline Industry Sustainable. [online] Available at: < http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2012/0919/Greening-the-airways-How-Airbus-plans-to-make-the-airline-industry-sustainable > [Accessed 1 May 2014]. Deloitte, 2013. Aviation & Sustainability. [online] Available at: [Accessed 1 May 2014]. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2001. Aviation and Sustainable Development. [pdf] International Civil Aviation. OrganizationAvailable at: [Accessed 1 May 2014]. International Civil Aviation Organization, 2009. Aviation and Sustainable Development. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 16, pp. 1-21. Upham, P., 2003. Towards sustainable aviation. London: Earthscan.   Read More