The Future of Commercial Aviation
The Bottom Line
BBC
4.6 • 615 Ratings
🗓️ 25 July 2019
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How can the aviation industry marry sustainability with increasing passenger numbers? Since the deregulation of Europe's airlines in the late 1990s, more and more of us have been flying every year. Whilst this may be good news for the airline industry, it's not good news for the environment. Manufacturers are trying to make models lighter and more fuel efficient, with a pledge by IATA to cut emissions to 50% by 2050. Nevertheless, experts say we are at least fifteen years away from hybrid engine powered flight. Evan Davis and guests ask whether commercial aviation can meet its climate targets through new technology and more fuel efficient engines, whilst keeping costs down for the airlines and the customer?
GUESTS
Paul Kahn, president, Connectivity, Cobham Plc
Volodymyr Bilotkach, economist, author of The Economics of Airlines
Rob Morris, head of Global Consultancy, Ascend by Cirium
Presenter: Evan Davis
Producer: Julie Ball
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.2 | Hello and welcome to the programme. |
| 0:07.4 | We need to talk about aviation, and that's what we intend to do today. |
| 0:11.5 | For the climate conscious, flying has become something of a guilty luxury in recent years. |
| 0:16.6 | Think of this. |
| 0:17.2 | An average Brit produces about 7.5 tonnes of CO2 a year. A business class return |
| 0:24.1 | flight to Sydney is about half of that amount, five or six months worth of ordinary living. |
| 0:30.2 | Well, with Britain moving towards a net zero carbon target, there's a conversation to be had on |
| 0:34.3 | the future of planes. And before we get to the struggle for sustainability, |
| 0:38.7 | there are big challenges facing the industry. For example, Boeing's challenges as it tries to |
| 0:44.8 | resolve the problems of the 737 Max. There is so much to talk about in aviation. Our struggle |
| 0:50.4 | today is going to be to contain ourselves. But let us meet three expert guests |
| 0:54.6 | who'll navigate us through this topic. And first up is Paul Kahn, former president of Airbus |
| 1:00.6 | UK, now president of the Connectivity Division at Cobham PLC. And Paul, Cobham is a supplier |
| 1:07.9 | to Airbus and other areas. That's right. So we make part of their equipment and systems for aircraft. |
| 1:13.0 | Right. |
| 1:13.6 | And what sort of equipment do you make? |
| 1:15.5 | So telecom systems and then systems on board like oxygen and fuel tanks. |
| 1:20.1 | Okay. |
| 1:20.3 | And we've got two obviously massively dominant airline manufacturers, |
| 1:25.5 | Airbus and Boeing and you supply to both of them. |
| 1:27.7 | We supply both, yes. |
... |
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