Luis Gallego, CEO of IAG: “Flying is going to be more expensive because decarbonizing aviation costs money”

2023-11-13 20:20:32

When the Spain-United States Chamber of Commerce decided to choose Luis Gallego as entrepreneur of the yearan award that is presented this Monday night in New York, highlighted the CEO of IAG not only to consolidate in the global panorama of the aviation sector to the holding company that includes Iberia y Vuelingbut also for his “efforts in the area of sustainability”. It is a commitment with which Gallego shows conviction, although he also knows the impact it has and will have on users. “Flying is going to be more expensivewhy decarbonizing aviation costs money“, he said in a meeting with the Spanish press hours before the gala.

Gallego accompanies his dose of realism with a defense of his transformation plan and the efficiency measures that IAG is adopting “so that this iimpact on costs is smaller and does not have to be transferred to rates“. And he highlights, for example, that his was the first European airline group committed to using by 2030 10% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF for its acronym in English), the first in the world to be set as a goal net zero emissions by 2050 and one of the three that have obtained the best rating from the Carbon Disclosure Project.

The bet on the SAF

Given the growing conversation about the potential of hydrogen plane for short and medium-haul flights, which could arrive by 2035, the businessman warns that “Replacing the entire fleet could take 30 years”. And although he assures that for those short and medium distance flights “there may be other solutions”, such as hydrogen fuel cell planes for regional aviation, in which they are already investing, or technologies of carbon capture, “for those of largo, responsible for 80% of emissions of Co2, there are no other solutions than SAF”.

Gallego remembers that this fuel costs four to five times more than kerosene due to its scarcity in the market and applauds the incentive policy for its production that is carried out in the US, from where next year IAG will import this fuel.

Gallego has also expressed hope that in Europe the proposal to establish the “single European sky”, a transformation that would allow flying in a straighter line compared to the zig zags currently required by national air traffic controls. According to studies carried out by IAG, this could mean a reduction in the use of fuel and therefore emissions of around 10%.

“Solutions not restrictions”

This triple path marked by IAG for sustainability has also supported it Fernando Candela, president and CEO of Iberiawhich has defended it against the proposal of the PSOE and Sumar to “promote” the reduction of short flights.

“The effective measures that can be taken for decarbonization involve the use of sustainable fuels, something that is on the table and can be used in the short term; the single European sky and real and effective intermodality,” he said. Candela, who has defended “providing technical solutions to specific problems and provide solutions, not restrictions“.

Candela did not want to detail which routes could be affected but recalled that they have five with Madrid in the area of ​​two and a half hours: Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Alicante, Malaga and Seville, and has highlighted that “they mainly provide connecting passengers”, who arrive to travel long distances. “What would happen in the end is that these passengers To come to New York instead of Madrid they would come through Pariswith which we would not be achieving objectives and emissions would be higher in our territory,” he said.