 Low cost airline EasyJet Chief Executive Andy Harrison unveils a new jet airline design called the - easyJet ecoJet - which will emit 50% less C02 and be 25% quieter than the most current aircraft currently in service, at a press conference in London, 14 June 2007. EasyJet became the latest carrier to set out its green credentials by announcing planned cuts in CO2 emissions. EasyJet Chief executive Andy Harrison said the airline aimed to slash emissions by 50% by 2015. Photo courtesy AFP. |
The news comes amid European moves to limit the environmental impact of airline pollution through the imposition of carbon dioxide emissions quotas from 2011, despite some opposition from within the travel industry.
"We are working with the manufacturers to get this aircraft delivered in 2015," easyJet chief executive Andrew Harrison told reporters.
"We're talking to Boeing and Airbus and they're actively working on it.
"There is nothing on this plane that Airbus or Boeing would not recognise," he added without stating the financial cost of the ecoJet project.
The new "ecoJet" has a lightweight fuselage and other improvements in technology and design which are aimed at cutting carbon emissions and noise.
Its unveiling came a day after Boeing forecast that airlines worldwide -- led by the low-cost sector -- would take delivery of nearly 30,000 new jets in the next 20 years.
The airline sector flies into focus again next week during the Paris Air Show, a showpiece event where US aerospace giant Boeing Co. and its European rival Airbus are expected to announce key orders.
"This is not Star Trek, this is the future, we have not created a new concept," Harrison said Thursday, adding that there was no prototype version for the proposed "super-clean" shorthaul aircraft.
"We will have this aircraft in the sky in 2015 if there is greater economic demand," he said.
easyJet was in the process of investing billion of pounds in the latest generation of aviation technology, according to Harrison.
From 2011, airlines will have to meet targets by reducing their emissions or buying carbon dioxide credits from other industries, under current European Union proposals.
Planes leave condensation trails at high altitudes which add to the greenhouse gas effect, fanning fears over global climate change.
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London (AFP) June 13, 2007
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