Department
Fahrzeugtechnik und Flugzeugbau Department Fahrzeug­technik und Flugzeug­bau

Environmental Labels in Aviation – Aircraft Label, Airline Label, Flight Label

Pascal Mattausch

Montag, 25.11.2024, 15:00 Uhr, Raum F119, Lehrstuhl für Luftfahrzeugbau und Leichtbau, Institut für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Technische Universität Berlin

Purpose – Introducing Environmental Labels for aircraft according to the ISO 14025 standard allowing to compare the environmental impact of different air travel options based on the combination of the following aspects: aircraft type, engine type, seating configuration (Aircraft Label); airline environmental performance (Airline Label); number of legs of a trip, time, cost and environmental information (Flight Label).

Methodology – The existing environmental label for aircraft considered resource depletion (fuel consumption), global warming (equivalent CO2 emission, including altitude-dependent NOx and aviation induced cloudiness), local air quality (NOx) and noise pollution. The data for determining fuel consumption and equivalent CO2 emissions was revised for existing aircraft and was extended with new aircraft types. Equivalent CO2 emissions were made dependent on the specific engine of the aircraft. The methodology for calculating CO2 equivalent emissions was refined with aviation induced cloudiness now being a function of fuel consumption. This improved aircraft label was used to evaluate the fleet of the 50 most important airlines with an airline label, which takes type and number of aircraft of an airline into consideration. Different methodologies of calculating the environmental impact of a flight used by flight booking engines were compared and discussed. Approaches for a multimodal trip score and a flight label were presented.

Findings – An improved more accurate aircraft label was created. The database of aircraft, airline and engine combinations was extended. The environmental performance of over 50 airlines were calculated using the airline label, which resulted in an airline ranking. Different methods to incorporate a flight label into a flight booking engine were proposed based on the aircraft label approach.

Research Limitations –The airline label does not consider airline specific data like the passenger/cargo load factor. Because of the nature of an environmental label to only focus on the most important criteria, there is no distinction made between the technical efficiency of different airlines. The local air pollution for turboprop aircraft could not be calculated due to a lack of publicly available data and missing access to the Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI).

Practical Implications – Passengers understand the most important criteria of a flight affecting its environmental burden. They can make an educated choice regarding the combination of aircraft, engine, airline and the chosen route. Obviously, a modern aircraft with an efficient engine, a ticket in the economy class and a direct flight should be chosen.

Social Implications – The multimodal trip score does provide the user with the ability to choose a flight based on their personal preferences and circumstances.

Originality – A logical trinity of the environmental labels in aviation plus an outlook to the multimodal trip score was not presented so far.

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