New routes to climate change mitigation for Aviation?
Mark Lumsdon-Taylor · Posted on: June 5th 2025 · read
The UK government has announced its intention to form a new service (the UK Airspace Design Service or UKADS) with a remit to redesign UK airspace.
The government promises that the work undertaken by UKADS will ‘deliver quicker, quieter flights and boost growth’.
Away from the headlines, the government claims the work will reduce delays and ‘emissions per flight resulting from planes circling in the sky while waiting to land’. It also claims the initiative could allow planes to ‘climb quicker during take-off and descend more smoothly, reducing noise and air pollution for residents who live along flight routes’.
It is clear from the recent government media release on the subject that the primary aims of the process are to deliver:
- Quicker flights and fewer delays
- The possibility of quitter take-offs
- More direct and efficient routes
- Airport expansion
- Growth as part of the Plan for Change
- Reduce aviation’s climate change impacts
- Pave the way for new technologies like flying taxis
Regardless of the programme’s ambitions, reform is long overdue.
The current airspace governance was established in the 1950s when air travel was a fraction the size it is today, around 200,000 flights per year compared to 2.7 million in 2024. The UK operates one of the most crowded airspaces in Europe, handling a quarter of Europe’s traffic despite having only 11% of its airspace.
It is an ambitious programme with, potentially, many benefits. However, it does come with a number of questions not least of which is that if growth is a primary ambition, will the resulting environmental and GHG emissions-impact be offset by the reduction in aviation’s climate change impacts?
This is an important question as the aviation sector’s plans for reducing its GHG emissions and achieving net zero have been criticised by some for their reliance on scaling technologies such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) which, as an industry, is still in its infancy.
The industry has made huge strides in the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels but until recently, the requirement has been for 2% of fuel on UK flights, now 10%.
However, according to Transport Environment, SAF – derived from biomass or by combining green hydrogen and carbon - in 2023 recorded airlines consumed more than 1.6 billion barrels of fossil kerosene, compared to just 2.6 million barrels of SAF which means SAF made up less than 0.15% of their jet fuel consumption. Furthermore, projected volumes of SAF will only lead to a 0.9 CO2eq emissions reduction of the airlines tracked. This does not cover the sector’s emissions growth.
UKADS certainly has a heavy load to bear.
According to Estuaire (claiming to offer the most comprehensive environmental impact dataset for the aviation sector), Aviation contributes to 4% of anthropogenic climate change, claiming that ‘many airlines, OEMs, and financiers do not consider the full picture in their ambitions to achieve Net-Zero by 2050’.
Final word...
"However, as the UKADS initiative - if it delivers on its promises – proves, achieving net zero in the aviation sector requires a truly holistic collaboration across the board.
The new UKADS will be fully operational by the end of this year, being run by NATS (En Route) plc (NERL). "
For more information
Contact the teamView our latest insights
Closing The Gap: small steps to building financial security
Smart Estate Planning: Using Trusts to Protect Your Wealth and Legacy
European Parliament's Subcommittee on Tax Matters Discusses Pillar Two, EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Rules and Tax Incentives
Steve Davies
Corporate Tax Director
