EUROCONTROL: Electrification of short haul travel will only produce minor impact on CO2 emissions

EUROCONTROL stated (16-Feb-2021) that while regional short haul travel is an "excellent candidate for early electrification" in order to reduce its environmental impact, this will produce only a minor impact on European CO2 emissions. According to EUROCONTROL data for 2020, short haul flights under 500km accounted for 30.6% of flights from European airports, but created only 4.3% of European aviation CO2 emissions. On the other hand, increasing the supply of sustainable aviation fuel to cover around 10% of the needs of long haul would do more to reduce net CO2 emissions than could ever be achieved in the short haul market. [more - original PR]