Boeing predicts renewed post-pandemic fleet will cut CO2

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July 30, 2021
Lufthansa
Photo: Boeing

Airlines are expected to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic with newer, more efficient fleets that are a “huge step forward” in reducing industry carbon emissions, according to a senior Boeing executive.

The US aerospace giant’s chief sustainability officer, Chris Raymond, told Australasian reporters on a conference call Friday that Boeing believed airlines would be putting newer models such as its 737 MAX back into service.

Boeing sees fleet renewal, which sees older planes replaced by aircraft that are 15 to 25 percent more fuel-efficient, as a key plank in the move to a more sustainable aviation industry.

READ: Boeing takes off on a surprise profit turn-around

The MAX, for example, uses technologies ranging from high-bypass ratio engines to advanced winglets to deliver a 21 percent reduction in fuel and CO2 emissions.

“As the pandemic ends and we recover, it’s our belief that the airlines will be putting newer models back in service,’’ Raymond said.

“Those will be more fuel-efficient and that will be, actually, a huge step forward in carbon emissions.”

The Boeing executive said he expected the bias towards newer aircraft despite moves by airlines to delay the timing of deliveries because of the impact of the pandemic.

He believed the renewal was being driven by an airline focus on sustainability, incentives such as the US Sustainable Skies Act sustainable aviation fuel tax incentives and potential regulations such as Europe’s “Fit for 55” legislative package.

“I just think these forces in the world are coalescing to encourage people to bring back the newer equipment and I … anticipate average fleet ages will be lower,’’ he said, noting that airlines should be given credit for the move.

Boeing recently released its first sustainability report looking not just at environmental issues but also at social issues such as diversity and the governance of the company.

Among the goals was a commitment to deliver commercial aircraft capable of using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) by 2030.

SAFs, which can deliver lifecycle carbon reductions of up to 80 percent, are another key to reducing aviation emissions in the medium term.

Airlines have successfully conducted thousands of flights using biofuel blends but far fewer have taken place with 100 percent SAFs.

While Raymond acknowledged the use of sustainable aviation fuel was “a given”, he said more research needed to be done on the impact on engines seals and fuel systems before moving from the current 50/50 blend of SAF and conventional jet fuel.

“Right now we’re limited to 50/50 kind of blends and it’s our desire to go study what has to happen if we were operating regularly on 100 percent,’’ he said.

“If a new airplane only saw 100 percent sustainable fuel, you‘d likely be fine.

“It’s the airplanes that have been exposed to jet fuel and some of the aromatics that are in those fuels and then if you switch to an all sustainable fuel and go back and forth.

“That’s where we need to study. What happens to things like seals? Do they dry out?

“And so we needed to do the work to understand that, frankly —what has to change on the airplane side, what has to change on the engine side and then, in partnership with the airlines, what needs to be adjusted on maintenance procedures.”

Looking longer-term, Boeing believes bigger all-electric planes suiting airline demands will not arrive until the 2030s

It also expects that hydrogen-powered aircraft, if feasible, will take until the middle of the century to take off.