Business aircraft manufacturers and operators had better tackle their environmental image sooner rather than later. Global warming has replaced noise as the number-one aviation-related environmental concern. The diagram on page 44 shows how easy it could be for green lobbies to persuade the public that the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by business jets is even less acceptable than that of airliners.
As an Airbus official recently pointed out, public acceptance of certain behaviors changes over time. He noted that banning smoking in public areas would have been unthinkable 30 years ago. Now it is socially unacceptable, even in Italy and France, to smoke in an office or a hotel lobby. Whether or not its practitioners choose to recognize it yet, the question for business aviation is how the segment can remain socially acceptable in an era in which environmental issues have come to the fore.
Business aviation associations and business jet manufacturers will have to make real efforts to support their claim that their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is small.
More In Regulations and Government
