June 10, 2009, Brill, U.K. - The British Business & General Aviation Association (BBGA) has hit back at the actions taken by environmental activists at London City Airport. Chief executive Guy Lachlan says: “We strongly condemn the misguided disruption by a small number of individuals this morning. Such ignorant stunts harm rather than progress meaningful discussion.”
He adds: “Aviation in total contributes about 2% of global emissions. Business aviation is responsible for less than 1% of that 2%. To put that into perspective, in the United Kingdom that is equivalent to each of us with a car driving just twelve miles in a year. I would ask the Plane Stupid people which they think would have a greater economic impact to the UK – each of us driving 12 miles less per year, or abolishing business aviation?
“Business aviation directly contributes £3.5 billion to the UK economy and employs 50,000 people across the manufacturing, maintenance and operation of business aircraft. Those aircraft are used by a variety of companies to improve their performance. Studies have shown that companies with access to business aviation perform around 10 % better than those without.
“In a sustainable economy business aviation is far more environmentally efficient than other forms of transport in terms of value-added per unit of emissions. It is obtaining the highest possible ratio of economic benefit to quantified emissions that is key. Prudent use of business aviation, in combination with an infrastructure of other alternative travel modes, boosts the British and European economies, which should be encouraged rather than attacked.
Businesses forced to compromise on this critical issue will relocate to a region or country better served by access to business aviation – to the detriment of our economy.
BBGA would be keen to establish a dialogue with Plane Stupid to address the serious issue of transportation CO2 emissions, but like many other pressure groups seeking to make a point irrespective of the facts, they seem more interested in attention-seeking than engaging in meaningful discussion. Until we have this dialogue, their activities can only be regarded as a dangerous disruption of other people’s legal and economically-valuable activity.”
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