green aviation
“Green Travel” is a much bigger theme in Europe than in the US. No matter where you stand on Net Zero (we are skeptical of Net Zero) or other broad-brush environmental polemics, the idea of a cleaner environment should not be controversial. If you value clean water, you also value clean air. It isn’t controversial. That said, making “green” the focus of travel isn’t helpful for some. “Greenwashing” is now a thing. A data-driven approach to understanding carbon footprints is necessary.
US online booking sites now offer you an opportunity to offset your carbon footprint when making a booking. This is also a well-established item when booking on a European airline. One wonders what percentage of travelers are willing to pay this?
For US-based air travelers, we offer the following data model, which shows the amount of carbon per seat mile by aircraft and airline. The data spans from 2010 to 1Q25. The four pages provide a comprehensive overview of the industry for those concerned about their carbon footprint.
In the tables, we list airlines and aircraft in descending order of “green”. The greener scores are on top.
Our carbon metric is a calculation based on fuel consumption, seat capacity, and flight hours. The goal is to create a metric that enables an equal comparison across aircraft types and airlines. Airplanes with high seat counts (as flown by ULCCs) benefit, as in the case of the A320neo. One item to note is that as Allegiant adds more MAX 8-200s, their carbon score will also improve due to the higher seat counts.
Overall, note that between 2010 and 2025, the industry as a whole has gone “greener” because of improving fuel efficiencies from the newer models. Airlines are inevitably going to become more fuel-efficient because they want to drive down fuel costs. This means carbon footprints will shrink, regardless of public policies. Which is why we think Net Zero is unnecessary, even if it serves as a mythically attractive goal.
Views: 1
