Even the boss of Aéroports de Paris (ADP) says so. “We will have to invite people to be more reasonable in air travel” until air transport has completed its decarbonization process, Augustin de Romanet warned Monday, on BFM Business, at the head of the airports of Paris-Orly, Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Paris-Le Bourget.
“I think you have to be as reasonable as possible in your behavior for the transition period which will last 20 or 30 years”, assured Augustin de Romanet. “If tomorrow morning the air traffic were to decrease, it is not an existential tragedy for us”, he also assured.
According to him, “before we have – which will be the case in 30 years – planes propelled either by electricity, or by hydrogen, or by sustainable fuels made from green electricity”, he moderation will have to be exercised with regard to the use of aircraft.
However, we must not forget that “in the long term, it is air transport which will be the system that emits the least CO2”, affirmed the CEO. According to his reasoning, “the infrastructure of the plane is the air” and if “you analyze the quantity of CO2 emitted to make railway tracks, ballast, etc., you know that on the In the long term, air transport is extremely virtuous”, he insisted in a comparison with the rail sector.
“It is not unreasonable to accept a certain moderation”
Augustin de Romanet says he anticipates “a continuation of the extraordinary demand for travel in emerging countries”, which will still be “very strong”, but “for the countries which have already benefited from the very strong growth in air traffic, the countries privileged like ours, it is not unreasonable to accept some moderation. »
Faced with the growing demand to limit air traffic to fight against global warming, the boss of ADP will “never get in the way of those who want to behave more responsibly”, he said. He also underlined the awareness that has hit the industry since 2019 with now “airlines who are crying out to energy companies for the production of aero-sustainable fuel, as well as methods for doing eco-piloting”.