Will we someday be able to fly without the guilt of causing environmental damage? A handful of firms and regulators hope that the electric revolution in cars will also take to the skies, helping the industry cope with an expected boom in travel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “Many people say that we must get rid of air transport because we will never be able to deal with emissions and noise, but this is an outdated approach,” said Norwegian Transport Minister Ketil Solvik-Olsen. Norway, the largest oil and gas producer in western Europe, is paradoxically a pioneer in the field of electric transport. The Nordic nation aims for all new vehicle registrations to be zero emission by 2025 and launched a first electric ferry in early 2015. After land and water, the northern kingdom is now turning to the sky with the goal of electrifying all short haul flights in just over 20 years.<br/>“In my mind, there is no doubt: by 2040 Norway will be operating totally electric,” said Dag Falk-Petersen, head of the country’s public airport operator, Avinor. Air transportation’s impact on global warming is estimated at around 5% through CO2 emissions and other substances, including nitrogen oxide and water vapour. As the number of air passengers is expected to almost double by 2036 to 7.8b per year, according to the IATA projections, aviation’s impact is on a course to increase substantially if nothing is done. Meanwhile, the airline industry aims to cut its CO2 emissions in half by 2050 from 2005 levels. While the international umbrella group Climate Action Network (CAN) says these goals are unrealistic, some airlines are beginning to look at electric-powered aircraft as an answer.<br/>
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China’s proposed aircraft tariffs take aim at Boeing’s main source of profit, the 737 jetliner family, while exempting a popular upgraded model needed to fuel the rapid growth of the country’s airlines. Boeing’s best-selling plane, the 737 Max 8, would narrowly escape the retaliatory measure, based on the weight limits outlined by the Chinese government, Douglas Harned, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said Wednesday. The biggest risk is for an older generation of 737 jetliners and General Dynamics Corp.’s luxurious Gulfstream jets. The threat goes beyond particular aircraft models. Even if commercial aircraft deliveries continue largely as planned to China, there’s still the risk that the escalating tit-for-tat between the world’s two largest economies would spiral into global recession. The measure was a “shot across the bow” for Boeing and the US government, said Seth Seifman, aerospace analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. “We understand some big picture concern,” Seifman said in a report, “but it appears to us that the specific proposals from China this morning are calibrated carefully to avoid a major impact on Boeing and are therefore intended more as a message to the US administration that additional trade barriers will be met with an escalating response.” The proposed aircraft tariffs would apply to imported US aircraft weighing between 15,000 and 45,000 kilograms. That would mainly hit the so-called NG generation of 737 planes, which are being replaced by the Max. <br/>
The Philippine tourism industry scrambled on Friday to manage the fallout from the temporary shutdown of its world-famous Boracay island, which threw into chaos trips planned by hundreds of thousands of tourists. President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the once-idyllic white-sand resort closed to tourists for up to six months from April 26, after describing the country’s top tourist attraction as a “cesspool” tainted by raw sewage. Checkpoints manned by police or soldiers will be set up at piers to turn away visitors. Hundreds of Boracay hotels, as well as restaurants, tour operators and business establishments were on Friday unwinding bookings for rooms, flights, weddings and other events and facilities. “Some people are cursing us … it’s nasty,” said Hotel Sales and Marketing Association president Christine Ibarreta. Ibarreta said “hundreds of thousands” of bookings made as far as two years in advance – potentially worth millions of dollars for hotels and other tourism services – would have to be either cancelled and refunded, or rebooked. Domestic airlines announced on Thursday they would scale back the number of flights to the jumping-off point for the 1,000-hectare island.<br/>