AAPA supports collaborative action on aviation and the environment
Addressing travel and tourism industry leaders at the PATA CEO Challenge 2008* event in Bangkok, Mr. Andrew Herdman, Director General of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), expressed strong support for collaborative action on aviation and the environment.
Mr Herdman said, “Aviation is widely recognised as a key contributor to economic and social development, and we take our environmental responsibilities very seriously. Airlines are committed to aggressively pursuing a four pillar strategy, endorsed by ICAO, covering investments in technology, operations and infrastructure as well as positive economic measures.”
Welcoming the participation of a broad range of travel and tourism industry stakeholders, including hotel and resort property operators, travel agencies, and destination-marketing experts, Mr. Herdman called for further collaboration “to address common environmental challenges, and work towards our shared goal of making tourism truly sustainable.”
Endorsing the industry’s bold step forward at the Aviation and Environment Summit in Geneva** last week, he welcomed the strong commitment of industry leaders from all sectors of commercial aviation to a goal of carbon-neutral growth and sustainability, whilst aspiring to carbon-free flights in the longer term.”
In the potential role of economic measures, Mr Herdman said, “Open emissions trading, within a globally harmonised framework, could represent a very cost-effective approach to further mitigating aviation’s environmental impact. Governments around the world need to work diligently towards overcoming their political differences on the wider issues of climate change policies. Meanwhile, the aviation industry and its partners are taking the lead and moving forward with concrete actions and targets to address our environmental performance. We are determined to ensure that this industry has a sustainable future.”
*”PATA CEO Challenge 2008: Confronting Climate Change”, organised by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), 29-30 April 2008, Bangkok, Thailand.
**”Aviation Industry Commitment to Action on Climate Change, 3rd Aviation & Environment Summit”, 22 April 2008, Geneva, Switzerland.