The aviation industry talked up greenness Wednesday at the world’s biggest air show in Farnborough, England. At a sustainability summit, Giovanni Bisignani of the International Air Transport Association called climate change an “emergency situation” and said airlines are the best suited to address it: “No other industry is as responsible, united, and ambitious.” Indeed, the industry is gung-ho about designing more fuel-efficient aircraft; the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787, both coming down the pike, are being touted as the most fuel-efficient airplanes yet. But Big Air remains unenthusiastic about a European Union plan to include airlines in its emissions-trading scheme, and officials continue to stress that the air industry really ain’t that bad. “We are under fire from many fronts, certainly from environmentalists, certainly from the uneducated general public that finds us an attractive target at which to shoot,” says Boeing CEO Scott Carson. “But the flying public still wants to fly.”
