The following table provides estimates of aviation carbon dioxide emissions per passenger for all domestic and international air passengers flying from UK airports in each year from 1997 to 2005.
Domestic aviation International aviation Carbon dioxide (Million tonnes) Departing passengers (Million) CO2 per passenger (Tonnes) Carbon dioxide (Million tonnes) Departing passengers (Million) CO2 per passenger (Tonnes) 1997 1.49 16.0 0.1 22.70 57.4 0.4 1998 1.62 16.7 0.1 25.26 62.7 0.4 1999 1.80 17.5 0.1 27.45 66.7 0.4 2000 1.96 18.6 0.1 30.25 71.4 0.4 2001 2.06 19.2 0.1 29.49 71.5 0.4 2002 2.07 21.0 0.1 28.94 73.4 0.4 2003 2.11 22.9 0.1 29.64 77.1 0.4 2004 2.30 24.2 0.1 33.13 83.6 0.4 2005 2.46 25.1 0.1 35.01 89.0 0.4 Notes: 1. The emissions figures in the table are in the common format of ‘weight of carbon dioxide’; to convert to ‘weight of carbon’ figures should be multiplied by a factor of 12/44. 2. Domestic aviation includes all departures from UK airports flying to another UK airport. International aviation includes all departures from a UK airport flying to a destination outside of the UK. These will carry both UK and foreign passengers. 3. The aviation CO2 emissions capture only those from the first leg of a flight (e.g. emissions for a passenger flying from London to Australia via Singapore will only reflect London to Singapore). 4. The aviation CO2 emissions are only those from departing aircraft (excluding military aircraft) and therefore the figures in the table do not reflect emissions from surface access nor emissions from airport buildings. Emissions from freighter aircraft have been allocated to passengers in these illustrative figures. 5. The CO2 emissions do not account for non-CO2 climate change effects of aviation emissions. Sources: Carbon dioxide emissions, table 5 of DEFRA’s Statistical Release “UK Emissions of Greenhouse Gases”. Passengers - Civil Aviation Authority statistics.
The average CO2 per passenger figures in the aforementioned table have been calculated by dividing total CO2 emissions from departing flights by the number of departing passengers. They do not therefore reflect a weighted average of emissions to account for the relative number of flights flying different trip lengths. The level of emissions per passenger will be affected by such factors as load factors, type of aircraft used, fuel efficiency changes, etc.