Every minute of flying-time that we can save, reduces fuel consumption by an average of 62 liters and CO₂ emissions by 160 kilograms. Governments are quick to make vacations more expensive with new taxes in the name of the environment. But they are slow to improve the infrastructure. It’s about time they realized what a difference a minute can make.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that there is 12% inefficiency in air traffic management globally. That means up to 73 million tonnes of wasted CO₂ emissions and nearly US$13.5 billion in wasted costs.

IATA’s work to optimize 350 routes in 2006 yielded 6 million tonnes of CO₂ savings. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. We see issues in all continents. The approach to Hong Kong is up to 25 minutes longer than it needs to be. Flying from Sao Paolo to Lima is 9 minutes too long. Johannesburg to London is 10 minutes too long. And flying to Manila from Japan has 5 unneeded minutes. Optimizing routes should not be a battle. It’s a win-win situation for the passenger and for the environment.

—IATA Director General and CEO, Giovanni Bisignani

In his speech, Bisignani also took aim at the cost to the environment of Europe’s failure to implement a Single European Sky.