Aviation
Decarbonising Air Transport
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
28 July 2021
- Integrate clear decarbonisation requirements into government support packages helping the sector recover from the Covid-19 crisis.
- Establish a clear long-term vision for decarbonising air transport by setting and monitoring emissions reduction targets aligned with the Paris Agreement.
- Support an international approach to mitigating the climate change impacts of aviation while implementing decarbonisation policies domestically and on a regional level.
- Introduce carbon pricing in aviation to drive an efficient transition to a greener aviation sector.
- Put in place timely and ambitious fuel quality requirements to encourage the take up of sustainable aviation fuels.
- Strengthen the effectiveness of regulatory frameworks to further energy efficiency improvements of aircraft.
- Encourage research, development and deployment of alternative propulsion systems and clean fuels, supported by clear policy frameworks for de-risking industry investments to ramp up fuel production.
- Factor in the non-CO2 climate impacts of air transport when designing decarbonisation policies.
Ready for Take-off? Integrating Drones into the Transport System
Research Report, Policy Insights,
23 February 2021
- Establish clear objectives and priorities for the introduction of drone transport by identifying the best first use cases.
- Design a communication strategy that directly addresses public concerns.
- Clarify and develop drones’ status within the broader framework of aerospace regulation.
- Co‑ordinate with the drone industry to inform investment, development, and equitable policy making.
- Foster the emergence of civil aviation authorities with interdisciplinary competencies and capabilities in order to integrate drones into the transport system.
- Support the design and implementation of a robust Unmanned Air Traffic Management system.
- Develop methods for assessing the impact of drones’ full life cycle on the environment.
- Incorporate drone operations into long-term urban planning strategy using data and predictive models.
Capacity Building through Efficient Use of Existing Airport Infrastructure
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
30 October 2017
- Whilst governments should act cautiously and avoid intervention unless there are strong reasons for it, airports, airlines, air navigation service providers, and regulators need to pursue all possible technical innovations to improve the utilisation of airport capacity. Collaborative decision-making is critical to achieving optimal outcomes.
- Governments should consider policies improving air connectivity alongside all impacts of air transport, in particular in terms of noise and air pollution impacts on local communities.
- Governments should constantly re-evaluate caps on aircraft movements that are designed to contain noise impacts, as technological improvements make it possible to reduce noise nuisance while allowing for more aircraft operations.
- IATA WSG should continue to evolve to facilitate more efficient use of scarce airport capacity, ultimately benefitting passengers and other users of aviation. Authorities should ensure that the rules are applied in practice as intended.
- Any system of slot allocation at congested airports needs to take account of the potential benefits of competition. When slots are allocated to new entrants they should be in sufficient quantity to support viable business models.
- The potential to use primary slot auctioning to improve welfare outcomes at congested airports should not be ruled out. To make decisions on primary slot auctioning, the transfer of rents needs to be considered explicitly, and steps taken to avoid excessive disruption to incumbent airlines.
- Secondary slot trading should be allowed and facilitated for more efficient utilisation of capacity.
- Congested airports should eliminate price discrimination against large aircraft wherever such discrimination is present.
Airport Site Selection
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
30 May 2017
- The process should start with an assessment of need for new infrastructure.
- Comparable assessments should be undertaken for a range of feasible options.
- Selection criteria need to examine all positive and negative impacts of airport capacity expansion.
- Assessments need to incorporate considerations of risk and uncertainty.
- The process needs to be clear, transparent, collaborative, and trade-offs need to be explicitly considered.
ITF Transport Outlook 2017
Transport Outlook, Policy Insights,
29 January 2017
- The 2016 Paris climate agreement must be translated into concrete actions for the transport sector.
- Policy will need to embrace and respond to disruptive innovation in transport.
- Reducing CO2 from urban mobility needs more than better vehicle and fuel technology.
- Targeted land-use policies can reduce the transport infrastructure needed to provide more equitable access in cities.
- Governments need to develop planning tools to adapt to uncertainties created by changing patterns of consumption, production and distribution.