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The Economic and CO2 Emissions Performance in Aviation: An Empirical Analysis of Major European Airlines

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Green Logistics and Transportation

Part of the book series: Greening of Industry Networks Studies ((GINS,volume 4))

Abstract

The sustainability of aviation in global supply chains is of increasing importance to airline management and policy makers. With mounting environmental pressures and market volatilities, airlines need to find strategies for simultaneously managing their economic and environmental (emissions) performance, two objectives that can support but also contradict each other. This chapter aims to evaluate the relative performance of airlines’ carbon and cost efficiency and how this relationship has changed over time. We compute and compare the carbon efficiency of 14 major European airlines for the period of 1986–2007. As jet fuel is the most important resource in the aviation supply chain, we examine whether there is a relationship between fuel prices and carbon efficiency. We also test whether unit cost, distance flown and load factors have an impact on airline carbon efficiency. The results show that the fuel prices and their volatility have affected and improved carbon efficiency of airlines. Our findings also confirm previous anecdotal evidence suggesting a significant negative relationship between carbon efficiency and unit cost.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Air Transport Management, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL, UK

    Chikage Miyoshi

  2. Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, The University of Sydney Business School, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Rico Merkert

Authors
  1. Chikage Miyoshi
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  2. Rico Merkert
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rico Merkert .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, The University of Sydney Business School,The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Behnam Fahimnia

  2. Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, The University of Sydney Business School,The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Michael G.H. Bell

  3. Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, The University of Sydney Business School,The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    David A. Hensher

  4. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Foisie School of Business, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

    Joseph Sarkis

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Miyoshi, C., Merkert, R. (2015). The Economic and CO2 Emissions Performance in Aviation: An Empirical Analysis of Major European Airlines. In: Fahimnia, B., Bell, M., Hensher, D., Sarkis, J. (eds) Green Logistics and Transportation. Greening of Industry Networks Studies, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17181-4_11

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