Image courtesy IBA
 
IBA’s latest analysis demonstrates the aviation industry’s efforts in driving further efficiency in their fleets. IBA’s October Carbon Index shows that:

• The global average CO2 per seat per mile remains largely flat month on month, despite growing aircraft utilisation following the Coronavirus pandemic. In April 2020 the average CO2 per seat per mile was over 151g. By September 2021, this had decreased to 144.1g, and was at 144.2g in October 2021.
• IBA has observed an overall CO2 per seat per mile reduction of 5.2% on a rolling three-month basis over the past four years.
• Average CO2 per seat per mile dropped 2.8% between March and August 2021 alone, largely due to the fact that over 540 new technology aircraft were delivered during that period. 

Top 5 commercial aircraft CO2 emissions
 
•    The top 5 most operated passenger aircraft, ranked by their share of total CO2 emissions, for October 2021, are:
 
1.    Boeing 737-800 at 17.5% - up 0.2% from September
2.    Airbus A320-200 at 12.0% - unchanged from September
3.    Boeing 777-300ER at 10.9% - down 0.8% from September
4.    Airbus A321-200 at 6.0% - down 0.2% from September
5.    Boeing 787-9 at 5.3% - down 0.5% from September
 
•    Despite the reduced utilisation during the Covid pandemic, the emissions share of the Boeing 737-800, Boeing’s most delivered narrowbody type, increased from 15.6% pre-Covid to an average of 17.4% for the 2021 year to date.
 
•    Its Airbus narrowbody counterpart, the A320-200 model, saw its share drop from 13.1% in 2019 to 12.1% for the 2021 year to date, with approximately 53% of the in-service fleet grounded for any of the type aged 12 years older.
 
•    The most significant jump in CO2 emission share belongs to the Boeing 787-9, from 3.9% in 2019 to an average of 5.7% for the 2021 year to date. This is partly due to a 40% increase in fleet size, but also because a large portion of the fleet remained active throughout the pandemic.

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•    The performance of the 737-800 has remained strong so far into 2021 but with a smaller rise of 0.4% observed YTD. This resulted from the increased delivery in new technology aircraft, especially the Boeing MAX resumption, which experienced an increase in October 2021 with 1.3% emission share. As of October 2021, both A320-200N and A321-200NX variants were witnessing moderate increase, representing 4.9% and 1.6% emission share respectively.
 
Top 5 aircraft lessor fleets
 
•    Out of the largest 30 lessors, the top 5 with the lowest average CO2 per seat per mile for 2021YTD are listed below.
 
1.    Jackson Square Aviation at 126g – 17.0% below industry average
2.    AMCK Aviation at 128g – 15.4% below industry average
3.    SMBC Aviation Capital at 130g – 13.5% below industry average
4.    Air Lease Corporation at 131g – 12.9% above industry average
5.    Goshawk Aviation Limited at 133g – 11.6% below industry average
 
The AerCap acquisition of GECAS has created a ‘super lessor’ within the market and thus the merged portfolios represent over 2,200 aircraft with a largely varied blend of asset types. Prior to the acquisition, AerCap was recorded at 133g CO2 per seat per mile for 2021YTD, which has then increased to 138g CO2 per seat per mile since the merge.
Airline emissions efficiency – spotlight on Asia, Latin America and Middle East
 
•    This month, IBA has produced a spotlight on the airlines with the best performing fleets in terms of CO2 Per Seat Per Mile in the Asia Pacific, Latin American and Middle Eastern regions. These are as follows:
 
•    Asia Pacific
1.    Scoot at 107.1g
2.    AirAsia X at 108.6g
3.    Jetstar Airways at 120.4g
4.    VietJetAir at 122.4g
5.    IndiGo at 127.0g
 
•    The top 50 airline average score for the Asia Pacific region is 151.3g of CO2 per seat per mile.
•    Latin America:
1.    GOL Transportes Aereos at 113.1g
2.    Volaris El Salvador at 116.6g
3.    LATAM Airlines Group at 117.5g
4.    Sky Airline at 118.4g
5.    Viva Aerobus at 121.2g
 
•    The top 50 airline average score for the Latin American region is 142.0g of CO2 per seat per mile.
 
•    Middle East:
1.    flydubai at 123.4g
2.    Air Arabia at 128.3g
3.    Jazeera Airways at 135.6g
4.    Air Arabia Maroc at 138.1g
5.    EL AL Israel Airlines at 140.0g
 
•    The top 50 airline average score for the Middle Eastern region is 149.6g of CO2 per seat per mile.
 
Each month IBA publishes its Aviation Carbon Emissions Index, tracking overall industry efficiency, with spotlights on aircraft types, airlines and lessors, accompanied by an analysis of related trends. The Index uses the widely accepted measure of CO2 per seat per mile / km and IBA’s impartial and independent measurement methodology, to produce emissions figures that match airlines’ own reporting at more than 99% accuracy.

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Ian Beaumont, Chief Executive Officer of IBA, said: “IBA’s Carbon Index is designed to highlight how the aviation industry is working to lower global emissions, whilst providing cohesive, comprehensive insights that drive awareness of the sector’s green credentials.”
 
“As aviation opens up, it is fascinating to track flight efficiency developments now that more aircraft are back in service. Naturally, the industry kept the most fuel-efficient aircraft flying throughout the pandemic to keep costs down, but will now need to put more fleets back in the sky. Equally, there is a race to upgrade fleets with the latest generation aircraft, and it’ll be interesting to see which driver wins out over the coming months.”
 
Using information from IBA’s InsightIQ aviation analytics platform, IBA calculates the Aviation Carbon Emissions Index by tracking each and every commercial flight across the globe on a daily basis. It combines this flight information with airport-to-airport Great Circle distances, and integrates this with its proprietary InsightIQ Fleets database that includes the configuration, specification and fuel burn characteristics of all commercial aircraft and engines.
 
Chris Brown, Partner of Aviation Strategy at KPMG, said: “Fleet planning and selection, with the ‘right’ aircraft at the ‘right’ time for the ‘right’ route is critical. As the pressure for further fuel efficiencies intensifies, retrofitting incremental improvements to engine, wing and fuselage will become more commonplace, and as such the futureproofing of new plane designs becomes all the more important. That’s a design challenge for OEMs, and a due diligence consideration for lessors.”

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