Analysis of the recent evolution of commercial air traffic CO2 emissions and fleet utilization in the six largest national markets of the European Union

Results show a slight reduction in the traffic, both for passengers and cargo (about −0.8%), and a more important reduction in CO2 emissions (−4.3%), thanks to an improvement in the fuel efficiency parameter (−3.5%) for the three years period. There has been a relevant change in the fleet composition in the last ten years, with the replacement of older models for more efficient ones, and a shift to larger aircraft, particularly in the regional segment. Traffic has decreased in shorter distances (internal EU traffic), but increased in more efficient long range flights (extra-EU traffic), resulting also in an improvement of the efficiency parameter as average aircraft size and stage length increases.