FACTS & FIGURES
649,000,000 tonnes
Worldwide, flights produced 649 million tonnes of CO2 in 2010. Globally, humans produced over 34 billion tonnes of CO2.
2.6 billion
In 2010, over 2.6 billion passengers were carried by the world's airlines. This year, it's expected to be 2.7 billion.
33 million
Over 33 million people are employed worldwide
in aviation and related tourism. Of this, 5.5 million people work directly in the aviation industry.
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2%
The global aviation industry produces around 2% of all human-induced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
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12%
Aviation is responsible for 12% of CO2 emissions from all transports sources, compared to 74% from road transport.
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35%
While air transport carries around 0.5% of the volume of world trade shipments, it is over 35% by value – meaning that goods shipped by air are very high value commodities, often times perishable or time-sensitive.
Deliveries of fresh produce from Africa to the UK alone supports the livehoods of 1.5 million people, while producing less CO2 than similar produce grown in the UK, despite the energy used in transport. -
70%
Jet aircraft in service today are over 70% more fuel efficient per seat kilometer than the first jets in the 1960s.
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76%
Globally, the average occupancy of aircraft is around 77%, greater than other forms of transport.
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80%
Alternative fuels, particularly sustainable biofuels, have been identified as excellent candidates for helping achieve the industry targets. Biofuels derived from biomass such as algae, jatropha and camelina have been shown to reduce the carbon footprint of aviation fuel by up to 80% over their full lifecycle. If commercial aviation were to get 6% of its fuel supply from biofuel by 2020, this would reduce its overall carbon footprint by 5%.
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80%
Around 80% of aviation CO2 emissions are emitted from flights of over 1,500 kilometres, for which there is no practical alternative mode of transport.
Our climate targets:
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1.5%
We will improve our fleet fuel efficiency by 1.5% per annum between now and 2020.
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Stabilise
From 2020, net carbon emissions from aviation will be capped through carbon neutral growth.
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50%
By 2050, net aviation carbon emissions will be half of what they were in 2005.
$1.3 trillion
In order for the aviation industry to reach its target of 1.5% average fleet fuel efficiency improvement per annum from 2010 until 2020, the world's airlines will have to purchase 12,000 new aircraft at a cost of $1.3 trillion.
39 million
Since 2005, IATA's Green Teams have saved some 39 million tonnes of CO2 by advising airlines on fuel efficiency methods.
21st in the world
If aviation were a country, it would rank 21st in the world in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), generating $425 billion of GDP per year, considerably larger than some members of the G20 (and around the same size as Switzerland).
By 2026, it is forecast that aviation will contribute $1 trillion to world GDP.
3 litres
The new Airbus A380, Boeing 787 and Bombardier CSeries aircraft use less than 3 litres of jet fuel per 100 passenger kilometres. This matches the efficiency of most modern compact cars.
1,715 airlines operate a fleet of 23,000 aircraft serving 3,750 airports through a route network of several million kms managed by 160 air navigation service providers.
127 decibels
The South African horn made infamous at the 2010 World Cup, the vuvuzela, at full blast is rated at 127 decibels. An A380 on the other hand takes off with a relative whisper at 82dB.
In 1945, it took 130 weeks for a person earning the average Australian wage to earn enough for the lowest Sydney to London return airfare. In 2009, it took just 1.7 weeks.
Over a quarter of the operating costs of airlines is spent on fuel: 26%, which is up from 13% in 2001. The proportion is likely to rise further as fuel prices go up. So this alone is a major incentive for the whole industry to focus on fuel efficiency.
4x
Worldwide, the amount contributed to the global economy by aviation jobs is roughly four times higher than that contributed by other jobs.
In Asia-Pacific, aviation jobs contribute over seven times more than GDP than average jobs.