The color of Europe's new Airbus anything but green
Doubts whether jumbo jet environmentally friendly
RYAN BALIS
All eyes in Europe this week were on the maiden flight of the long-anticipated, double-decker Airbus A380 super jumbo jet, which took place Wednesday at Toulouse-Blagnac International Airport in southwest France.Though a boon to Europe's airline industry, the 800-plus-seat jet raises environmental issues of importance on both sides of the Atlantic.But considering Europe's greenish tilt and its shock over America's "excessive energy consumption," it was ironic to see nearly 5,000 guests  -  including four European political leaders  -  cheer January's lavish rollout of the Airbus' A380."When we look at this monument of human achievement, we see that Europe can't be stopped," boasted Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to the crowd.The massive jet  -  a German, French, British and Spanish collaboration  -  is set to become the world's largest passenger jet when it enters commercial service in mid-2006.The plane reflects Airbus' business strategy to connect travelers between large flight hubs such as London and Los Angeles.Airbus and its backers promote the A380 as one of the most environmentally friendly and cost-efficient aircraft in the world. They claim it will halve noise and improve fuel efficiency by 15-20 percent over Boeing's 30-year-old 747.The reasoning is that by carrying more passengers farther on less fuel per passenger, the environment wins. But a look at Airbus' performance statistics casts doubt on that logic.Airbus steadfastly insists that, despite the jet's oversize frame, the expected fuel consumption is 2.9 liters per passenger for every 100 kilometers traveled. These measurements are based on flying 555 passengers with no luggage or cargo at a cruising speed of 900 kilometers.But with air carriers selling an average of 70 percent of available seats, supporters of the A380 may have difficulty explaining how increasing the number of jets in the sky is good for the environment.Jean-Marc Jancovici, a French scientist, calculates that if Airbus' business projections are met, "the number of air passengers will triple in the next 20 years." He thus points out that meeting passenger demand with "super-size" jets would cancel gains made to fuel efficiency.It is also reasonable to figure that per-passenger fuel consumption will vary widely depending on the number of passengers, cargo and distance traveled. Long-distance flights with a full-passenger load would increase per-capita fuel efficiency.Such worries have yet to carry much weight. Having a European creation topple the venerable Boeing 747 is a source of great pride for many European Union leaders.Although Airbus became the world's largest commercial airline producer in 2003, rival Boeing has chosen a different track: To build a new generation of smaller, lightweight and fuel-efficient jets.Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is the brainchild for this strategy. Set to be unveiled in 2008, it will allow passengers to fly directly between many of the world's largest cities on 20 percent less fuel than on a comparable aircraft.To a degree, the airline makers' opposite approach is simply the latest skirmish in the decades-old trans-Atlantic air war. But any claim of a European "moral advantage" on environmental concerns is suspect.The behemoth Airbus A380 has yet to earn its green stripes.Balis is a policy analyst at The National Center for Public Policy Research, (), a conservative, free-market think-tank.