News: VLM defend environmental impact of short haul flights
Flights > News > # 1920 (05/10/2008)
Belgian business airline VLM has published a leaflet which aims to prove that taking short-haul flights is no more damaging to the environment than travelling by rail.
The document, entitled ‘Setting the Record Straight’, uses independent data to show that aircraft operating domestic and short-haul flights can be greener per passenger than trains connecting the same cities.
VLM argue that rail operators are not taking into account their true environmental impact because they ignore the hidden energy burden of their operations. This includes emissions resulting from the power generation needed to run electric trains and the environmental impact of constructing, updating and operating railway lines.
When these factors are taken into account VLM claims the true average carbon dioxide emissions figures for a regional aircraft would be 95 grams per passenger kilometer compared with 155 grams for a high-speed train.
VLM managing director, Johan Vanneste, is alarmed by the growing perception that flying is dirty and rail is green. He said: “Packaged as an environmental measure, the (British) Government is now planning an unfair tax on aviation that does not take account of different aircraft types being operated. Nor does is consider that it is often greener to fly on domestic services than to travel on a heavily subsidised rail network.”
VLM offers a wide range of high-frequency flights throughout the UK and Benelux.
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Comment:
Both sides of the transport environmental debate can claim that the other massages the figures, but one of the long-term advantages of high-speed trains is the fact that there are alternatives to fossil fuel-based power production, which are already commercially available, even if the costs per unit of generating power from coal is still substantially lower for the time being. For example, Switzerland operates a genuinely carbon emission free electricity generation system, based on a split between hydroelectric and nuclear, and the efficiency of their completely integrated public transport network is truly astonishing. Detractors might say that it is easy for the Swiss to do this, after all, they have plenty of mountains and lakes to aid the generation of hydroelectric power, so a more realistic comparison might be to look at Spain. As well is embarking on the most ambitious high-speed rail development plan in Europe, Spain is also leading the way in renewable energies - but perhaps slightly surprisingly, their focus is on wind power, rather than solar.
However, whatever the energy and emissions arguments, the fact remains that both forms of transport have their externalities, and that these include noise as well is air pollution. Aviation already covers these externalities through Air Passenger Duty, yet there is no such equivalent charge on trains. Politicians are often far too quick to grab the easy slogan, but the most intelligent transport policy has to be that which encourages consumers to make informed choices, and which encourages transport operators, to be as efficient as possible.
