It’s unlikely anyone would ever say flying was a sustainable activity, but Etihad Airways has made it the airline’s central focus to see how it can at least try and head in this direction. Recent moves include introducing blankets made from recycled plastic and reusable tableware made from recycled high-quality plastic.
The tray, serving plates and their lids are part of a closed loop recycling system – at the end of their lifecycle, they are collected, washed, ground and reused to make new replacement products. Stainless-steel cutlery is also being reintroduced to reduce single-use plastic. “We are pro-circularity and really high quality,” Etihad Airways’ head of sustainability Mariam Alqubaisi says. “We believe that sustainability should be second nature to us.”
While reduce and reuse is essential for in-flight services, the huge issue is fuel usage and there are clear ways the aviation sector can reduce climate impact, including flying more efficient aircraft; setting more efficient flightpaths and reducing delays; using sustainable lower-carbon alternative fuels; and investing in emissions offsets within or outside of the sector.
In January 2019, Etihad announced its goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and halving net emission levels by 2035, and Alqubaisi says their work is helped by the United Arab Emirates’ wider focus on sustainability.
“As the national carrier of UAE, Etihad wants to uphold all national ideals – one of those is the transition to newer, cleaner sources of energy, so that is one of our goals too,” she says. “For so long we have been a luxury carrier, but we think now why not tie that to sustainability – that is the new luxury.”
Optimum operations
Etihad has around 70 aircraft in its fleet, and 39 of those are Boeing 787 Dreamliners, praised for their greener credentials. There are more to come, making them the “backbone of the fleet”, along with Airbus 350-1000s: Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-powered planes that are one of the most efficient aircraft types in the world, with 25% less fuel burn and CO2 emissions than previous generation twin-aisle aircraft – they will be introduced on the Heathrow-Abu Dhabi route from 30 October.
Alqubaisi is also clear that there is no one solution to decarbonisation. “It needs to be an integrated, comprehensive solution that looks at all the aspects available to us and not just ones dependent on upcoming technologies,” she explains.
“Yes, we electric short-haul flights are possible, but it’s the long-haul flights we need alternative technologies for. We have a range of operational efficiencies we can all make. And we can tap into carbon credits. Etihad has been investing in all of these.”
Much has been spoken of in recent years around Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAF, which is fuel made from sustainable feedstocks and similar in its chemistry to traditional fossil jet fuel.
Some typical bases for it are cooking oil and other non-palm waste oils from animals or plants; solid waste from homes and businesses, such as packaging, paper, textiles, and food scraps that would otherwise go to landfill or incineration; and forestry waste, such as waste wood, and energy crops, including fast growing plants and algae.
Any aircraft certified for using the current specification of jet fuel can use SAF, and it can be handled in the same way, so no changes are required in the fuelling infrastructure. One of the issues though lies in its fragmented supply. Many airlines are looking into how to source SAF, but Alqubaisi says Etihad is going even further in seeing how it can also research and create it.
“It’s one thing to buy SAF, but it’s another to invest in its production,” she says. “We started being more vocal about this mission three years ago, but our journey to decarbonisation really goes back to 2011, when we became part of the Sustainable Bio-energy Research Consortium here in Abu Dhabi.”
Plant projects
Under SBRC, a not-for-profit research collaboration, there is a biofuel project not far from Etihad’s head office. The pilot facility uses an aquaculture system that by fertilising salt-tolerant plants such as salicornia can produce biofuel that converts to jet fuel.
Salicornia grows in soil with water of high salinity, and when harvested generates tiny seeds, which are then crushed in order to obtain their oil. While these positive steps at least show how research is leading to a non-fossil fuel future, in terms of anything like wide-scale readiness, this could be a long way off.
“Plus, for the time being, SAF can only be co-mingled; you cannot currently fly a commercial flight on an all-SAF tank, airlines can only blend up to 50%. Beyond that is something that needs to be tested more,” Alqubaisi explains. “You have to add to that the supply and price implications. Just a small percentage of SAF for a five-year plan would cost billions of dollars. We cannot keep saying that SAF is the ultimate and only solution; it needs to be coupled to lots of other things.”
Another fuel source Etihad – and the UAE generally – seems keen on exploring is hydrogen. “The UAE has already voiced its interest in being a major exporter of hydrogen,” she says. “By 2030, UAE aims to capture 25% of the global hydrogen fuel market, which means we have the right infrastructure in place to work on this.”
Etihad is part of a working group within the Abu Dhabi Hydrogen Alliance, which also includes Lufthansa – she is always quick to point out how important it is to coordinate with others in the sector – and aims to look at how producing synthetic fuel from green hydrogen can work.
Airbus has said it believes hydrogen to be “one of the most promising zero-emission technologies to reduce aviation’s climate impact” and is working on bringing a zero-emission commercial aircraft to market by 2035.
Making changes
But there are also other things that could already be making some difference while the hunt for greener or renewable fuel sources continue. Etihad is looking into contrail avoidance, partnering with SATAVIA, a UK-based green aerospace company, in April to test technologies to do so and by operating at a certain altitude to avoid them.
Even minor operational measures such as flight level changes, for example diverting aircraft 2,000 feet up or down from their normal flight path, can reduce persistent contrail formation. Etihad also operated 13 dedicated ‘EcoFlights’ this year, testing a range of initiatives such as flight path optimisation, optimised climb and continuous descent, optimal departure runway and last minute engine start-up.
Alqubaisi says looking at air traffic management, is another “major issue”. “This could be a quick win for all airlines – it doesn’t require technological advancement, if you simply manage air traffic control well, you reduce time in the air and by default, reduce fuel burn. These are things that all carriers need to be investing in as an industry, along with the regulators.”
Etihad is also keen to ensure it takes customers along for the journey, with initiatives such as the Etihad Mangrove Forest launched this year in collaboration with Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, which allows guests to adopt mangroves to reduce their carbon footprint. Mangrove forests are a highly effective carbon sink and globally store approximately 6.4 billion tonnes of carbon, almost four times more than other terrestrial forests.
The airline also operates a green-focused loyalty programme, Conscious Choices, which rewards sustainable decisions, such as reducing baggage and lessening the flying load and carbon offsets using Etihad Guest Miles.
The initiative was also expanded this year for corporate travellers who can deliver their company sustainability goals through offsetting, SAF investments and green surcharge fares.
As Alqubaisi says, it all helps on a united mission: “Our leadership want us to practice what we preach and lead the way. Sustainability used to be a ‘cute to have’ thing, now it’s indispensable. The future airline is a sustainable one – any airline not looking like a sustainable one will not survive. The industry is vilified, but flying is something we have to live with. We are very focused on collaboration and information sharing, we’re all facing the same issues so we need to work together.”
