👩✈️ The insiders changing how we think about flying
🌍 This recent BBC Travel article by Marianna Cerini focuses on positive proposals to reduce the environmental impact of flight – from the perspective of aviation workers ourselves.
🗣️ The article features insights from Safe Landing co-founders Todd Smith and Finlay Asher and community member Katie Thompson who founded Bumprints. We also hear from Friederike Röder of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force about a “Premium Flyers Solidarity Coalition” that aims to introduce a levy on private jets, first- and business-class air travellers to ensure that those who fly most contribute proportionally more to climate adaptation and loss-and-damage funding.
👨✈️ Todd advocates for investing in emerging short-haul electric and hybrid-electric aircraft, which could be commercially viable within the next decade, and re-designing flight routes around them – more regional hubs, shorter hops, slower long-distance travel. He believes that taxing those who fly the most must also be part of this course correction.
The people impacted most by climate and ecological breakdown have likely never even been on a plane – Todd Smith, Safe Landing
🧑🏻💼 Finlay argues that one near-term opportunity is contrail avoidance – small changes in flight altitude or route that prevent the formation of the thin, lingering vapour trails that trap heat in the atmosphere.
“Contrails are probably the biggest climate opportunity for aviation this decade,” – Finlay Asher, Safe Landing
One he wants to see included in policy discussions at COP30.
👉 Check out the full article here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/article/20251112-the-insiders-changing-how-we-think-about-flying