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In line with the upcoming Farnborough International Airshow running July 22-26, this week’s Carbon Analysis looks at new-gen widebodies.
Using this information, airline executives can make informed decisions on efficient, low carbon widebody purchases. The aircraft considered are Airbus’ A350 and A330neo families and Boeing’s 787s. Emissions are shown for 2023 in kgCO2/Available Seat Kilometer (ASK), and kgCO2/cycle.
The chart reveals that the A350 does not perform particularly well, when both CO2 per ASK and emissions per cycle are considered. The A330neo shows excellent CO2 per ASK results, but the 787 performs best on CO2 per cycle.
The A330neo family shows a very strong performance here. With emissions per ASK rivaling the figures of LCCs, CO2 per cycle is somewhat raised. But over short and long-haul, emissions per ASK figure this low is the most relevant number. The A330neo family is an excellent choice for an airline looking to make more environmentally conscious decisions when purchasing widebody aircraft.
When selecting with climate goals in mind, the A350 may not be the first choice. Its high seat count is not sufficient to mitigate its emissions. Its emissions per ASK, although low when compared to older widebodies, are higher than other options currently on the market. When emissions per cycle are considered, unfortunately for the A350, the outlook is still not ideal, with nearly 140,000 kg of CO2 per average cycle flown in 2023.
The 787 performs well in this analysis. Emissions per ASK are below the airline industry average, and certainly well below the widebody average. CO2 per cycle is where this aircraft performs best. However, this could potentially be airlines choosing to operate this aircraft on shorter routes, making this statistic appear better than the CO2 per ASK figure.
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