Bristol Airport                            ZAS0054

Written evidence from Bristol Airport

About Bristol Airport

Bristol Airport is central to the economy of the West of England and is one of the region’s largest private sector employers. In 2019, the Airport supported almost 4,000 direct jobs, and c.25,000 indirect jobs, bringing around £1.7 billion Gross Value Added (GVA) to the region.

We will achieve carbon neutral operations this year and aim to achieve net zero operations by 2030, which was positively referenced in the UK Government’s recent Jet Zero consultation.

Bristol Airport is also targeting its scope 3 emissions, including aviation and surface access.

• We were the first in Europe to offset all passenger car journeys to and from our airport.
• We are funding innovation directly – our Aviation Carbon Transition (ACT) Programme has made £250k available this year for enabling sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and other sustainable flight solutions to enable decarbonisation at Bristol Airport.
• A new joint sustainability partnership with easyJet is studying a wide range of cutting-edge developments and operational efficiencies, using Bristol Airport as a testbed to trial and implement the latest technological and innovative solutions for decarbonising easyJet’s operations and reducing waste.  Any successful results from the trials will have the potential to be rolled out across easyJet’s network, which spans 150 airports across 35 countries.
• We are working in partnership with our region’s unique aerospace and aviation cluster to decarbonise air travel. Our region boasts 14 of the 15 most significant aerospace companies in the world, supported by world-class universities and specialist science centres, a complex supply chain of over 800 companies, aerospace R&D centres, and an unparalleled high-skill talent pool. 

What contribution can operational efficiencies make to reduce emissions from aircraft / shipping vessels and over what timescale could these have an effect on emissions?

Bristol Airport’s 2030 net zero operations target would cover our scope 1 and 2 emissions, with net zero buildings and vehicles.

We are also committed to taking action on scope 3 emissions, including aircraft and surface access. There are a significant number of steps that can be taken to reduce emissions of aircraft at airports and the below are specific examples that Bristol Airport has set out in its draft Carbon and Climate Change Action Plan:

• The creation of a league table in 2021 to measure and record GHG emissions and noise levels from aircraft operators arriving at Bristol Airport.  This will encourage and drive airlines to continually engage in improvement.
• Encourage aircraft to make continuous descent approaches, with the aim of 85% of scheduled flights achieving this by 2023
• Aim for up to 30% of aircraft to undertake single engine taxiing by 2024, with monitoring and data being provided to airlines to encourage improvement
• Bristol Airport would support sustainability metrics within local and national aircraft slot allocation rules / guidelines encouraging the take-up of new, more fuel-efficient aircraft into the fleet
• Our landing fees will be adjusted to incentivise low-carbon flights by 2030. This will incentivise the introduction of short haul, low- zero-emission, hybrid flights or electric vertical take-off and landing (eVOLT), with landing charges reviewed annually to take account of new technology.

How should the Government’s net zero aviation strategy support UK industry in the development and uptake of technologies, fuels and infrastructure to deliver net zero shipping and aviation?

The UK Government’s proposals for net zero domestic aviation by 2040 are ambitious but achievable. Beyond the environmental benefits, there are major potential economic and social opportunities for the UK to take a lead in this area, particularly in our region due to the strength of its aerospace and aviation sector. 

• For airports, significant investment is required in new ground infrastructure to enable this ambitious target to be met. Commercially successful UK aviation and aerospace sectors are essential to provide the financial headroom to invest in new technology
• We recommend that two regional UK airports should be identified immediately to take part in a trial, to begin commercial net zero connections operating between them as rapidly as possible, including the use of SAF and to explore hydrogen/hybrid/electric technology. This would enable the end-to-end systems to be evaluated and for nationwide reforms to be rolled as quicker and more efficiently
• As recognised in the UK Government’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Mandate document, SAF remains the most likely solution for long haul flights
• There are clear benefits to ‘make, move, use’ SAF and hydrogen in a single region to run an effective trial and identify the best means of upscaling at all of its life stages, rather than piecemeal supported projects spread across the UK
• A Contracts for Difference style scheme is ultimately the best mechanism for upscaling SAF, but we agree with the UK Government’s position that the sector is currently too immature – this can be greatly accelerated by focussing support to ‘make, move, use’ in two regions
• In the medium term, Air Passenger Duty (APD) should be reformed so that the use of SAF is incentivised.

The UK’s leading aerospace and aviation sectors mean that being a ‘first mover’ to decarbonise flight would have the benefit of creating high-skilled green jobs. This should be a key consideration when writing recommendations in this area.

• The South West’s Aerospace and Aviation Cluster is uniquely positioned to fulfil the UK Government’s vision of net zero aviation by 2050 and a country transformed by a ‘Green Industrial Revolution’. Our region boasts 14 of the 15 most significant aerospace companies in the world, supported by world-class universities and specialist science centres, a complex supply chain of over 800 companies, aerospace R&D centres, and an unparalleled high-skill talent pool.  Its combined strengths have created an ecosystem that exists nowhere else in the UK and can only be rivalled internationally by a handful of other regions.

• UK Government funding for clean aviation has previously been fragmented, supporting individual projects and concepts, but has not had the opportunity available to be coordinated to meet the challenges faced by the relationship between new technology, infrastructure, supply chains, and ground operations.

• The South West is the only region in the UK that has all the elements required to create a living lab for aerospace, where new decarbonisation technology can be created, tested, deployed, and commercialised, and where cross-sector green jobs and skills can be created through building on the existing connections between business, universities, further education, airlines and airports.

• Existing programmes and spending should be channelled to the region in a whole system approach. This coordination of support and investment will be based against creating a multiplier effect, creating a living laboratory in the South West.

• This channelling requires national programmes to be continued and guaranteed for the longer term. The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) would be a vital component, so it should receive long-term funding to enable it to continue to promote transformative technology.

• To fulfil its potential, the South West Aerospace and Aviation Cluster’s unique ecosystem should be recognised by the UK Government; existing funding mechanisms channelled and combined with the already coordinated investment from companies, bolstered by new support for research from regional universities and specialist science sectors to enable a step-change in decarbonising aviation.  In the short term, and with additional coordinated investment, this partnership would create a new South West Centre for Clean Aviation and, in the longer term, a hydrogen transport end-to-end system.

• There is a significant opportunity for the UK - drawing on our existing strengths to lead the world in decarbonised aerospace technology, being the first to bring it to a global market, creating, sustaining, and evolving tens of thousands of green jobs.

For more information, please contact Simon Earles, Director of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs

September 2021