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Flight ban would have minimal effect for UK

The AOA’s chief executive, Karen Dee, has been quoted on whether the UK should follow the French in banning some domestic flights in the following article on the Business Leader website: https://www.businessleader.co.uk/could-uk-follow-frances-ban-short-haul-flights/.

The full comment can be found below.

“If the UK were to follow the French approach, it would have very minimal effect in the UK. The vast majority of UK domestic routes connect centres that are more than 2.5 hours apart by rail, and the few that are below that threshold are primarily to facilitate connecting flights – also exempt under the French plan.

“Instead, UK Aviation has developed the Sustainable Aviation Roadmap, a clear plan that outlines how the sector will manage, reduce and eventually eliminate emissions. Implementing and supporting the measures in the roadmap should be the focus.

“These measures include more fuel-efficient airspace, cleaner, quieter engines, and particularly increasing the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). The UK has the opportunity to be a world leader in SAF, potentially bringing thousands of clean jobs and billions in investment to the country. We want to see proposals like that, which enable growth and prosperity, not ones that limit it like banning a very small selection of current flights.”