747 exit boosts sustainability effort: BA chief

BA’s decision to retire its fleet of Boeing 747s will accelerate the airline’s sustainability efforts, according to recently appointed CE Sean Doyle. “That’s 32 older aircraft leaving British Airways, being replaced by modern 787 and A350 variants, and that’s an advancement of our [sustainability] commitment over the Covid crisis that we’re excited about,” Doyle said during the UK Royal Aeronautical Society’s Climate Change Conference. Those Airbus and Boeing widebody types are ”a huge enabler of more efficient operations”, Doyle said, explaining that BA expects to achieve an improvement “in terms of CO2 per kilometre travelled” as a result of the jumbos being retired early. The airline is currently assessing “exactly what that [improvement] would look like in the future”. Beyond fleet considerations, Doyle believes that BA parent company IAG’s commitment to achieving ”carbon net zero by 2050” will involve “many dimensions”. Noting that “there’s no silver bullet” in terms of improving aviation’s environmental footprint, he cited measures “like sustainable aviation fuel, like offsets, like emissions trading, like airspace management”, which are “fundamental to getting the industry to where it needs to get to”. Doyle also acknowledged that “there are more exciting longer-term technologies like hybrid, battery and hydrogen”, but says that BA sees ”those coming from about 2040 onwards”, rather than offering near-term solutions.<br/>