The ban on flights may have left tens of thousands of holiday makers stranded and a scarcity of exotic fruits in supermarket aisles, but for the millions of people whose daily lives are blighted by noisy aircraft it is a blessing, according to the ETA.
Director at the Environmental Transport Association, Andrew Davis, said: “The financial cost of the ban to airlines is put at £28m per day, but the millions of people who live under flight paths may feel that it is worth far more than this.”
By the end of Monday 19th April, the ban on flights across Europe will have saved an estimated 2.8m tonnes of CO2. Just one return flight from London to New York produces a greater carbon footprint than a whole year’s personal allowance needed to keep the climate safe. On every flight to New York and back, each traveller emits about 1.2t of CO2. If we fly, air travel overshadows all our other impacts.
Some reports suggest chaos from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption could go on all week. An ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano prevented flights in and out of the UK and government ministers have said that it will not be safe for planes to fly across most of northern Europe today, for the fifth day running.
Read Alain de Botton’s thoughts on a future without planes here.
Melissa Corkhill is the editor of The Green Parent magazine, mother of two and author of the book Green Parenting
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