Aeroplanes’ fuel-inefficiency

[mailchimp_signup][/mailchimp_signup]Our study, ‘Clearing the air: the myth and reality of aviation and climate change‘ makes only one criticism of the IPCC report – that in its assessment of fuel- efficiency improvements it refers only to the last 40 years, leading to the conclusion that an improvement of 70% has been achieved.

But a recent study for T&E by the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) showed that passenger aircraft of the 1950s were as efficient as modern jets.

Our broader criticism is of those that continue to refer to the IPCC report’s findings to play down the significance of aviation emissions in the climate debate.

It is misleading, in this context, to refer to a report published seven years ago that was itself based on data from 1992. Especially so considering the enormous growth of air transport over the last decade and a half.