Tuifly, Condor & Co.

Global air traffic clearly misses climate targets

International passenger airlines only improved their Co2 efficiency by just under six percent in 2023 compared to the pre-coronavirus year 2019.(Bild: © Holger Harfst, stock.adobe.com)

According to a study, global passenger air traffic has clearly missed the climate targets. Lufthansa, Condor and Tuifly in particular have fallen behind. 

However, most airlines have hardly succeeded in reducing kerosene consumption and thus mitigating CO2 emissions and other environmental damage such as contrails, according to an airline ranking presented by the environmental organization "Atmosfair" at the climate conference in Baku.

According to this ranking, international passenger airlines only improved their CO2 efficiency by just under six percent in 2023 compared to the pre-corona year 2019, which corresponds to around 1.4 percent per year.

However, with air traffic continuing to grow, four percent is needed every year to achieve the climate targets agreed in Paris.

Even the climate targets of the civil aviation organization ICAO of two percent per year, which the environmental organization considers insufficient, have not been achieved.

Sustainably produced fuels hardly ever used
In addition, airlines have made little progress in modernizing their fleets, even though modern engines can reduce kerosene consumption by up to 30 percent. This is due to delivery problems at the two dominant manufacturers Boeing and Airbus.

• Airlines with a comparatively old fleet therefore fell down the rankings, such as the core company of the Lufthansa Group, which dropped from 66th place in 2019 to 97th.
• Condor fell from ninth to 36th place and Tuifly from fourth to 14th.
• The most favorable efficiency scores were achieved by Tuifly Netherlands and Starlux , an airline from Taiwan with brand-new aircraft that was only founded in 2018.