UK aviation warns green shift to slow demand growth

LONDON

The financial cost of U.K. aviation cutting carbon emissions will push up ticket prices, slowing passenger demand growth, an industry body has forecast.

Sustainable Aviation predicted in a report that this slowdown will correspond to a “reduction in projected aviation activity of 14.3 percent in 2050” from earlier forecasts.

The industry body said “the increased cost of decarbonising aviation will inevitably reduce passenger demand”.

“However, this modelling also shows that, even with slightly higher costs, people still want to fly, with overall growth in passenger numbers of almost 250 million by 2050.”

The U.K. government is aiming to achieve a net zero economy by the same year.

The global aviation sector is facing extra costs owing to purchasing carbon credits and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), as well as financing removal of greenhouse gases.

Sustainable Aviation urged the UK government to take “urgent” action to support investment in carbon-cutting innovations, pointing to the provision of significant U.S. and EU subsidies and incentives.

According to the report, SAF could provide three-quarters of U.K. jet fuel by 2050.

However, progress was “at risk” without government support to alleviate the higher costs of using cleaner fuels and other carbon-offsetting initiatives, it added.

“Without urgent government action the UK risks” losing also “60,000 jobs” linked to the sustainable aviation industry.