The aviation industry is supporting a UN proposal to limit pollution from international flights even though the measure may eventually cost companies US$24b annually. Trade groups representing United Continental, Boeing and other industry leaders are pushing nations to join the agreement, which would require companies to offset their emissions by funding environmental initiatives. The accord, being brokered from Tuesday in Montreal, would be the first global climate pact targeting a single industry. The outcome is far from certain. The deal has backing from at least 60 nations, including the US and most of Europe. Yet in recent days China, which had previously expressed support for the accord, issued a joint proposal along with Russia and India pushing to change key elements of the proposal. <br/>
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Bombardier has become the first company in the aerospace industry to disclose the life-cycle environmental impact of one of its products, putting its C Series airliner up for scrutiny in a move it believes will help it sell more planes. The aircraft maker said Monday that it published the sector’s first so-called environmental product declaration, an independently verified and registered document that outlines specific information about the environmental impact of a product over its life span. The declaration doesn’t mean a product is necessarily greener than others. It is simply a declaration of its environmental impact that can be compared to other products using standardised measurements. EPD rules are overseen and administered by a secretariat located in Sweden. <br/>
Greece’s airline market is seeing steady growth thanks in large part to the improvement of the country’s airport infrastructure and to the expansion of the tourist season, ICAP found. Examining the 20013-2015 period, the ICAP study found that the Greek airline market has grown in the last 3 years at an annual rate of 9% together with ground handling services. Boosting the country’s airline performance is the fact that Greece is a popular international destination welcoming a large number of tourists from abroad. In 2015, more than 430,000 flights and 49m passengers were handled at Greek airports by domestic and foreign airlines, up by 10% compared to 2014. Meanwhile, 18 of the 21 Greek airlines saw an 11.5% increase of total assets in 2014-2013, with total company sales up by 6.4% and gross profit up by 20.4%. <br/>
Dubai Airports has commissioned work on a project that will expand the number of Airbus A380 contact stands at Dubai International's (DXB) Concourse C, the company announced Sept 26. The increase will enable the facility to accommodate Emirates Airline's growing fleet of A380s. The project will increase the number of Code F gates (A380 gates) at Concourse C from 3 to 13, bringing the total number of A380 gates at DXB to 47, more than any other airport in the world. Emirates operates 83 A380s, with a further 57 on firm order. Concourse C became a part of the Terminal 3 complex used exclusively by Emirates and its partner Qantas, following the opening of the US$1.2b Concourse D in February, increasing capacity at the airport from 75m to 90m passengers a year. <br/>
Aviation infrastructure shortcomings in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region have become a dire situation, prompting IATA to warn govts in the area of the potential cost to their economies if they do not quickly address airport and airspace congestion. IATA Regional VP, Asia-Pacific Conrad Clifford, said there was a huge shift occurring within the global activity of the airline industry, with China set to take over the US as the largest market and Asia-Pacific countries having some of the world’s fastest growing markets. India, for example, is seeing 20% year-on-year growth in terms of passenger numbers. The region’s airlines have enough new aircraft coming in to cope with that growth, but shortfalls in capacity in terms of runways, airport terminals and airspace have become “dire”, Clifford said. <br/>