1) G-EOGY

“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is your plane speaking. My name is G-EOGY and I’d like to personally welcome you onboard this British Airways retirement service from my home at London Heathrow airport to St Athan in Wales.

I’ve had an illustrious career as a Boeing 747-400, living through the golden age of aviation, slashing passenger costs and enabling transatlantic flights; people were afraid of both engines failing on a twin-engine jet over the ocean. I opened-up, quite literally, a world of possibilities.

My name is G-EOGY and this is my biography

If I’m being honest though, I’m fictitious and exist solely to explain the environmental impact of airplanes throughout their lifecycle (Disclaimer: this blog is in no way related to or endorsed by BA). Globally, aviation contributes to 2% of carbon dioxide emissions; amidst predicted growth (before the widespread fleet groundings and a 70% reduction in air travel worldwide due to COVID-19), efforts to reduce these emissions have turned to more fuel-efficient and less ‘gassy’ aircraft. But what about the impact of my contrails, the hot drinks I consume on a cold day or the waste my passengers produce?

Despite reductions in the emissions and noise produced by individual aircraft, the push to expand airports like Heathrow (recently deemed unlawful for failing to incorporate the Paris agreement into their proposals) has been met with significant resistance and protests from environmentalists and anti-aviation campaigners alike. Never before has the industry faced so much pressure from civil society to decarbonise.

Over the next few flights, I’ll therefore be reflecting on my environmental impact from mere parts in Boeing’s Everett factory (Washington) until my dying moments in St Athan. The outlook is not all gloomy though: my creators are developing solutions that could change the industry for the better.”

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