By Ilaria Grasso Macola
Wealthy nations should pay more for low-emission air travel, Heathrow’s boss John Holland-Kaye told business and political leaders gathered in Davos today.
“The wealthy people in this room and the wealthy nations should be funding the energy transition in aviation,” Holland-Kaye said, speaking at an event on the future of travel at the World Economic Forum’s annual conference.
According to the chief executive, companies, as well as passengers, should pay more to use sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) on their flights.
A by-product of solid waste of food scraps, SAFs reduce emissions by up to 80 per cent.
The aviation industry is leaning towards SAFs as the main tool to reach net-zero by 2050, as the adoption of other green alternatives such as hydrogen or electric planes is still several decades away.
“We need to be paying the premium for sustainable aviation fuel to get the cost of it down so that developing countries don’t have to pay for the energy transition,” Holland-Kaye added.
Holland-Kaye, however, rejected suggestions that air travel should be cut down if the industry wants to achieve its environmental targets.
“We’re here in person because we were able to travel and we all get some benefit out of being here,” he concluded. “So the answer is not to stop travelling but to change the energy we use on the planes that get us here.”
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