Madam, - I am quite tired of this baseless airplane bashing on climate issues (Oisín Coghlan, August 23rd). Despite what we have been led to believe, airplanes are the greenest mode of transport available. A Boeing 737-700, for example, uses 3.3 L/100km per passenger, while a Ford Mondeo uses 4 L/100km per passenger.
Even the tiny Smart car is less efficient than an airplane, at 3.4 L/100km. And this ignores the fact that airplanes fly directly to their destination, travelling fewer kilometres than the equivalent car journey.
Clearly, the environment will be better off if we get out of our cars and fly more often.
In any case, each time I fly, I naturally "offset" my emissions. When I fly to a sun holiday, I turn off my central heating, park my car, and switch off the lights. Thus, I use less carbon while on holiday than I would have had I stayed in Ireland. A win-win situation? - Yours, etc,
MARK SUGRUE, Drumcondra, Dublin 9.
Madam, - Oisín Coghlan of Friends of the Earth, ("We have to be weaned of Flying", August 23rd) quoted at length a study about aviation made by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change. I think it is worth noting that this study was commissioned and paid for by Friends of the Earth.
A more objective, and global, source of information would be the world's authority on climate change, the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which confirmed in May of this year that aviation represents 2 per cent of global man-made CO2 emissions.
It is true that aircraft emissions are rising but they are doing so from a far smaller base than other sectors. This is why the IPCC expects that CO2 emissions from aviation will only increase to 3 per cent in 2050.
Moreover, the IPCC confirms that these emissions can be countered by improved fuel efficiency, achieved through better technology, operations and air traffic management.
Over the past 10 years alone, fleet renewal and infrastructure/operational progress have improved fuel efficiency by 20 per cent, and new technology coming on stream will lead to at least a further 25 per cent improvement overall by 2020.
Today, industry is investing in the latest and most efficient aircraft technology; it is decreasing the weight of planes and saving fuel; it is developing new operational procedures on the ground that save fuel; and is constructively moving towards emissions trading in Europe.
None of these measures are headline grabbers, but they show the industry's steady commitment to reduce our emissions.
We agree that it is up to all of us - corporations, governments and individuals - to take positive action. To narrowly focus on aviation, however, only dilutes our ability to address the wider issue meaningfully. - Yours, etc,
ULRICH SCHULTE-STRATHAUS, Secretary General, Association of European Airlines, Ave Louise, Brussels.