Why flying domestically in the UK is even worse than you might think

The route between Edinburgh and London is the most travelled domestic flight path in the UK, with roughly 297 flights travelling between the two cities every week. It is common knowledge that the carbon footprint of flying is large, however it might be less known to the average person that the footprint of domestic flights is actually far worse.

There is no doubt that the environmental impact of flying is huge. Global aviation, both passenger flights and freight, emits around one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year; equating to around 2.4% of CO2 emissions in 2018. In the UK, it equates for roughly 6% of total emissions. In fact, global aviation emissions are so high that if it were a country it would be one of the top ten emitters in the world. However did you know that the carbon footprint of domestic flights are (per kilometer) far worse than a long haul flight? Aircraft on routes of 700 kilometers or less emit more CO2 per person for every kilometer travelled than long-haul flights. 254 grams per km of CO2 is emitted for short haul compared to 195 g/km for long haul flights. This is largely due to the fact that take-off and landing uses the most fuel, making level flight over whatever distance relatively cleaner. Not that majority of the students are offenders of this but I thought I'd include for the sake of readers knowledge, but the type of class which you sit on in a plane also has a difference in per person emissions, with first class flyers having the highest carbon footprints. All the pervious numbers are based on people sitting in economy seats, however carbon emissions per passenger per kilometre travelled are about three times higher for business class travellers and four times as much for first class travellers, according to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). This is because there's more space per seat, meaning fewer people are on board, resulting in each person accounting for a larger amount of the whole plane's pollution. According to a study conducted by Lease Fetcher, 4416 tonnes of CO2 emissions are released every week from domestic flights in the UK, with the main route being between London and Edinburgh. This amount of energy used equates to heating around 529 homes for an entire year.

By flying domestically you may also be indirectly supporting the possibility of Heathrow's future third runway. Heathrow's third runway is a proposition to expand Heathrow, the UK's busiest airport with over 80 million passengers a year, in order to boost international trade and create many more jobs. Although the Court of Appeal deemed the expansion of Heathrow as illegal in February of 2020 (due to climate concerns), the Supreme Court overturned this decision, allowing the project to proceed into the next stages. This expansion would allow for an additional 260,000 flights per year from the airport, leading to many more tonnes of emissions being created. Even though majority of these flights are aimed to go towards international flights, if the the expansion of this airport where to go ahead, there are plans of creating more domestic routes in cities such as Belfast, Liverpool, Newquay and more, driving up the number of domestic flights within the UK and therefore driving emissions up even further. Although it can sometimes seem like we are useless when it comes to making change to the climate crisis, where you spend your money has a huge difference. Use your spending votes to deviate from flights, and show that an expansion of Heathrow is unnecessary and these extra domestic flight paths are not being demanded. However the environmental costs go beyond just carbon emissions. In order to build the new runway, rivers would have to be diverted, roads be moved and the M25 would have to be rerouted through a tunnel underneath the new runway. Not only would all this reconstruction lead to lots of landfill waste being created, but it would have further impacts on wildlife. A number of non-environmental related issues would continue to get worse with this expansion, including air pollution and health issues associated it. The area surrounding Heathrow is the second most polluted part of London. Ultra-fine particles (UFP) are a major pollutant released from aviation, and are linked with many life-threatening diseases such as heart disease, chronic lung disease and brain cancer. Researchers at King’s College London identified that London has the largest concentration of these ultra-fine particles compared to other cities and the source is often directly from aircraft at Heathrow Airport. In a report published in 2016, by the Mayor of London at the time (Boris Johnson), it was estimated that the expansion of Heathrow Airport could cause the already dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) to rise by 4-8g/m3. The activist group AirportWatch predicts that this could put 47,000 homes at a larger risk from air pollution, which could put the health of 121,377 people in danger and due to increased hospitalisations could cost the NHS £10.8m.

Right now, for those of us who may live in England, the low prices and the shorter journeys make a flight home very appealing. A round-trip flight from Edinburgh to London costs on average around £50, when a round-trip train ticket costs on average £70. However Lumo, new cost-efficient and all-electric train service, has starting running from London to Edinburgh which have significantly reduced the price of train tickets of this route. The operator claims that 60% of all single fares will be available at £30 or less, making it better deal for student budgets. Therefore the idea that train travel is more expensive it one for the past, and as long as you are organised you should be able to save some money! So the next time you are booking a trip home to England, try considering taking the train rather than flying. Train travel emits far less CO2 emissions, with 41 grams of CO2 per person per kilometer, which is around 84% less compared to a short haul flight mentioned earlier. Not only does rail travel offer many benefits which air travel cannot, including: wifi and fewer luggage restrictions (check out a previous blog post for more), but as explained it is far better for the environment and one of the easiest ways to reduce your personal carbon footprint.