Environmental impact now part of airline fleet thinking: Udvar-Hazy

While Air Lease executive chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy sees airlines giving greater attention to addressing environmental concerns in their fleet planning amid heightened pressure to tackle aviation’s climate impact, he does not believe it will change the useful life of aircraft. Udvar-Hazy says: ”We are definitely seeing a much greater environmental awareness in the fleet-planning process.” “There is a massive campaign against flying,” he says, but adds: ”I don’t know what alternatives we have, I don’t think we are going to go back and take the Queen Mary from London to New York on your next transatlantic crossing. I don’t think we are going to go back to horse and buggies. So I think commercial aviation is here to stay. But what we are seeing is governments, and semi-government agencies, are going to tax and punish airlines that operate aircraft that are not the most advanced in terms of environmental compatibility. I think there is going to be economic discrimination against the previous-generation aircraft.” Some of the strongest environmental pressure is evident in Europe and he highlights measures such as the French government’s moves to curb domestic flying in favour of high-speed rail, which formed part of the recent bail-out for Air France."<br/>