In Europe, Straighter Flight Paths Could Cut Costs and CO2

Travel Blog  •  Joanna Kakissis  •  03.26.09 | 12:47 PM ET

About 3 percent of Europe’s CO2 output comes from airlines, which use up tons of fuel by zig-zagging between the national airspaces of the 27 member-states, Reuters reports. This week, EU lawmakers in Strasbourg agreed to the Single European Sky II plan that would save billions of euros in costs by modernizing air traffic management, straightening flight paths and streamlining the 27 airplaces to nine by June 2012.

The move could help the EU cut CO2 emissions to a fifth below 1990 levels by 2020. Could it also making flying the European skies faster and more pleasant?

Tags: Airports, Eco Travel, European Union, Europe, News and Briefs

Joanna Kakissis's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, among other publications. A contributor to the World Hum blog, she's currently a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder.


No comments for In Europe, Straighter Flight Paths Could Cut Costs and CO2.

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.