The Responsibility of the Airline Industry for Some Degree of Global Warming and Climate Change Is Now Broadly Acknowledged, Although It Remains a Highly Contested Field of Debate. Bearing in Mind Air Transport’s
“Our world faces a true planetary emergency,” said former US Vice-President Al Gore, about global warming (BBC News b, 2007). Global warming and climate change have become very important topics of discussion, as they are some of the most serious challenges facing the world today. Global warming refers to the gradual increase in the temperatures of water and air on the earths’ surface (Global Warming.com a, 2009). The main contributor to global warming is carbon dioxide emissions. Airplanes account for 3.5 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions in the earths’ upper atmosphere (Global Warming.com b, 2009). They are particularly harmful to the environment as they release large amounts of carbon dioxide at high altitudes (BBC News, 2005). It is approximated that for every 4000 miles travelled by an aircraft, 1 tonne of carbon dioxide is emitted (Eco Travelling, n.d). False cirrus clouds that are produced by the engines of the aircraft create water vapour, which crystallize into ice in the upper atmosphere, thus trapping the heat of the earth, in essence doubling the contribution of airplanes to global warming (Mulchandani, 2006). Experts have forecasted that by 2020 air travel will be the sole largest contributor to global warming (Mulchandani, 2006).
International tourism has increased rapidly over the past decade and is expected to continue to grow at unprecedented levels (Reisinger, 2009). The World Bank (2007) defines tourism as, “the activities of people travelling to and staying places outside their usual environment for no more than one year for leisure, business, and other purposes not related to an activity remunerated from within the place visited.”
Tourism relies heavily on the aviation industry. It accounts for more than 60 percent of air travel (United Nations Environment Program, 2001). For most tourists, the preferred mode of travel is by air. The key reason for this being that the aviation industry offers a faster, efficient, and often cheaper,
International tourism has increased rapidly over the past decade and is expected to continue to grow at unprecedented levels (Reisinger, 2009). The World Bank (2007) defines tourism as, “the activities of people travelling to and staying places outside their usual environment for no more than one year for leisure, business, and other purposes not related to an activity remunerated from within the place visited.”
Tourism relies heavily on the aviation industry. It accounts for more than 60 percent of air travel (United Nations Environment Program, 2001). For most tourists, the preferred mode of travel is by air. The key reason for this being that the aviation industry offers a faster, efficient, and often cheaper,