The aviation industry is in trouble. With massive increases in fuel prices, major players such as Continental, Delta, and American last week announced combined second-quarter losses of nearly $2.5 billion, according to a report in Slate magazine. The article provides an overview of the challenges faced by airlines as prices rise and pressure mounts on them to do something about their contribution to climate change, which is massive.
There are some alternatives being studied right now, such as new aircraft models that make less noise and cleaner fuels. There is a also technology that has been around since the 1920s (!) that produces something called synthetic liquid fuel. The Federal Aviation Administration is working with the industry to explore its potential. It was pioneered by two German scientists (who else?) and used by Germany during WWII and South Africa during Apartheid because of the oil embargo.
They say necessity is the mother of invention. Let’s see how true that will turn out to be in the case of the aviation industry, which has been very slow to clean up its act on climate change.
