E-Paper
Aviation to do its bit in fight against global warming
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India's civil aviation regulator, has asked all domestic airlines and airports to create Aviation Environment Cells to address aviation environmental issues.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India's civil aviation regulator, has asked all domestic airlines and airports to create Aviation Environment Cells to address aviation environmental issues.
An Aviation Environmental Unit (AEU) has already been set up to deal with these cells. The individual airline and airportcells are expected to develop their own action plans to reduce emissions and submit a report to DGCA.
The DGCA has also issued a slew of guidelines through a circular (a copy of which is with Hindustan Times) to airlines, airports and air traffic service providers.
Airlines have been asked to retrofit and upgrade their existing aircraft and adopt aggressive fuel efficiency methods. They have also been asked to come up with a plan for using biofuels as alternative to aviation turbine fuel.
Airlines have been advised to be more fuel efficient to reduce carbon footprint. The norms include minimising extra weight, managing optimum passenger occupancy, improving ground operations and training pilots on fuel conservation.
Airport operators have been asked to use electrical, gas or other alternative fuel to operate ground vehicles. Most vehicles at airports like Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi are CNG- run but a sizeable number of vehicles still run on petrol or diesel.
Operators have also been asked to improve public transport system to reduce dependence on private vehicles by passengers to reach the airport.
Airports Authority of India, which manages all civil air traffic, has been asked to identify air traffic bottlenecks so that aircraft don't waste fuel while hovering above congested airports like Delhi and Mumbai.
DGCA has also commissioned a study to ascertain the truth in the claim by new-generation aircraft and airlines that run them that their CO2 emission is on the decline resulting in a big contribution to mitigating climate change.
The aviation regulator has taken 2005 as the base year to gauge the difference in carbon emission by all aircraft.
