Sustainable aviation: what’s the plan?

I often feel like I am walking a tight rope, as I carefully weigh opposing forces. My priority, as Chairman of the world’s largest aviation services company, is to balance growth with our commitment to decarbonizing our global airport operations. Of equal importance is to ensure that we are providing an exceptional work environment for all those who contribute to Menzies future every day.

Equally, we need to balance our responsibility to serving our airline customers safely and securely, with their own net zero goals. This is never easy, but we must recognize that we are just one part of a massive global value chain that flies passengers and cargo worldwide. Therefore, collaboration and mutual support across the entire aviation industry are essential if we are to create a sustainable industry that we can pass from this generation to the next responsibly.

The aviation industry directly employs 11.5 million people around the world, and indirectly supports more than 90 million others. It plays a pivotal role in enabling our daily interactions, whether it’s the transportation of people or life-saving vaccines to every corner of the world. However, it is also one of the most energy intensive industries, and if left unmitigated, could be responsible for up to 22% of global emissions by 2050. As a leader in the aviation industry, we are taking sustainable aviation seriously.

Here is how we at Menzies Aviation are playing our part:

In 2021, we launched our ‘All In’ strategy, committing to science-based targets and setting three climate-related goals: to be Carbon Neutral by our 200th birthday in 2033, to achieve zero fuel spillages, and to support the climate agenda by working with our value chain partners to capture and reduce Scope 3 emissions. Menzies is a signatory of the UN Global Compact and participant in the Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition, which has 60 signatory members and is accelerating the use and availability of sustainable jet fuels – projected to reach 10% of all consumed aviation fuels by 2030.

I would like to call on other leaders within the aviation industry to also take action.

Collectively, we must:

1) Collaborate

As a truly global industry, fragmentation between national standards and private objectives constrains global efforts to advancing towards net zero. Individual companies must remain committed to aligning themselves to international accords because cooperation between actors inside and outside of this sector is the primary way in which net zero goals can be achieved by 2050.

2) Lobby Governments to Increase Incentives

Governments must provide incentives and financial support to alleviate the cost pressures associated with the transition to sustainable sources of energy. Sustainable aviation fuels are 2-5 times more expensive than fossil fuels. If governments provided adequate incentives for the switch to these fuels, not only would emissions drop significantly (approximately 32% by 2050 in the UK), thousands of new jobs could also be created.

3) Prioritizing People

Ground services play a critical role in ensuring that passengers and cargo are ready for safe take-off and landing. The specialist expertise of ground services as a piece of critical infrastructure was evidenced with the disruption to air travel and breakdown of services seen in Summer 2022. From when the weather deteriorates and de-icing specialists are required, to maintenance of aircraft equipment, to baggage and passenger security, to transit of critical cargo such as PPE during COVID, those that work in our sector ensure the safety and security of those travelling. Our people are incredibly important to us here at Menzies, and in the current competitive labour markets it’s important to make sure that the commercial agreements in place with customers allow for fair and competitive wages to be paid to our highly skilled & trained staff.

Individual players within the sector must take responsibility and commit to sustainable aviation initiatives, which collectively can have a significant impact. The transition to a net-zero economy is an investment in our collective future. We want to be here for the long-haul.