Peter Alagos
The use of gas to liquid (GTL) technology in the local aviation industry places Qatar Airways in the league of airlines that put premium in advocacies to reduce air pollution and the protection of the environment.
Qatar Airways chief executive officer Akbar al-Baker made the statement yesterday during a media briefing after the conclusion of the 70th IATA Annual General Meeting held in Doha.
Al-Baker said the airlines has been using GTL fuel for all of its flights coming from Doha. Aside from being an environment-friendly jet fuel, al-Baker said the use of GTL “gives a huge burn fuel benefit to Qatar Airways…and additional range for the same quantity of fuel that is utilised in our airplanes.”
The issue of high fuel costs has constantly plagued the airline industry for many years. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated in its 2014 mid-year report that $212bn will be spent on jet fuel by airlines, which is almost 30% of their total operating costs.
The association also estimates that the airline industry’s purchases of jet fuel in 2014 will generate a $24bn profit for the upstream part of the jet fuel supply chain.
When asked why other airlines are not using GTL as an alternative for traditional jet fuel, al-Baker noted that airline companies getting fuel from Doha may not realise that they are using jet fuel mixed with GTL. “It was the same thing with us (Qatar Airways) that we were getting GTL-mixed jet fuel in South Africa from Sasol; they were fueling our airplanes with GTL for a very long time,” al-Baker revealed.
Relating the US government’s declaration to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to 2005, IATA director-general and CEO Tony Tyler said the same effort is being exerted by the association in the aviation industry.
On Monday, US President Barrack Obama declared a “war on coal” by proposing new regulations that encourage the use of renewable energy sources, including natural gas and energy-efficient technologies as well as other alternative sources of energy, among others. “While that is not related to the aviation industry, we must remember that aviation is a global industry and we have global target, and those targets are first – to increase efficiency by 1.5% per year to 2020. The second one is to achieve carbon neutral growth from 2020 with no further emissions and finally, to bring emissions down by 50% by 2050 compared to those in 2005,” Tyler stressed.
Aside from the debilitating effects of costly jet fuel prices, newly-appointed IATA Board of Governors chairman Calin Rovinescu, who is also president and CEO of Air Canada, raised concerns on excessive taxation by governments worldwide.
Rovinescu described high aviation taxes as an “epidemic,” which has brought some airlines in other countries, “in some respect, to their knees” due to costs derived from landing fees, security surcharges, fuel excise taxes, and air navigation charges, among many others.
“Governments have viewed aviation as a cash cow and feed the taxation system. This is a challenge that exists worldwide,” Rovinescu noted.
While both airlines and aircraft manufacturers “have done a good job” in making themselves more efficient and in creating efficient aircraft that consume less fuel, respectively, the “battle” with excessive taxation “will continue for a very long time,” Rovinescu emphasised.
He also noted that the battle “seems to continue” to be in some parts of the world due to a “fundamental lack of understanding” of the economic contributions created by the aviation industry. “When economists talk about the benefits of aviation, for every billion dollars-worth of revenue that an airline generates tends to be six or seven times that number in terms of economic contribution,” Rovinescu said.
Tyler also lamented that “taxation is a big problem.” Using Africa as an example, he said fuel taxation charges in the country are 21% higher than the rest of the world and poses a huge problem for African carriers.
“Aviation is a driver of economic development, growth and jobs, and social development and it shouldn’t be seen simply as an easy tax target,” Tyler stressed.