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mahatmakanejeeves

(56,888 posts)
Mon Sep 21, 2020, 05:57 PM Sep 2020

Amazon's buying spree of used planes goes against green pledge

Amazon’s buying spree of used planes goes against green pledge

Airlines are being spurred to hasten the retirement of their oldest, fuel-guzzling aircraft.

Monday, September 21, 2020 9:59amHERALD BUSINESS JOURNALAVIATION AND SPACE

By Siddharth Philip / Bloomberg News

While flight shaming and the coronavirus pandemic have spurred airlines to hasten the retirement of their oldest, fuel-guzzling aircraft, not all those planes end up in boneyards in the desert. Many find a second life in the fleets of Amazon.com Inc. and other cargo carriers. ... Amazon has been among the biggest lessors of converted Boeing Co. 767s in the last five years as demand for online shopping has soared — more so since Covid-19 struck. A limited choice of converted planes and efforts to cap costs have left the online retailer with some of the freight sector’s oldest aircraft, many of them older than the company itself.

In June, Amazon said it was expanding its 70-strong fleet by leasing 12 converted Boeing 767-300 passenger jets, including a 29-year-old model it took delivery of in May. For haulers like Amazon Air, FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc., increased demand means more of these aging planes in the air and, hence, higher emissions, making it harder to shrink their carbon footprint and meet climate pledges. ... “There’s certainly a trade-off between the environment and economics when it comes to freighters,” said Andreas Schafer, a professor of energy and transport at the UCL Energy Institute in London and an authority on aircraft carbon dioxide emissions. “While there’s a sound economic case for using older aircraft for freight, it may not be a great case for the environment.”

Amazon, which has pledged to make 50% of its shipments net zero carbon by 2030, operated 38% more flights in the U.S. in the first half of 2020, compared with the same period last year, according to Luxembourg-based Cargo Facts Consulting. Emissions from its jets rose 35% in 2019 as it shipped 1.9 billion pounds of cargo on 40,163 flights, the consulting firm estimates. Amazon declined to comment on the numbers, saying that for the company as a whole, carbon emissions rose 15% last year.

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Amazon's buying spree of used planes goes against green pledge (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Sep 2020 OP
But . . . but . . . but there was that ad about electric trucks, right there on the tee-vee!!! hatrack Sep 2020 #1
Well, Sherman A1 Sep 2020 #2

hatrack

(59,439 posts)
1. But . . . but . . . but there was that ad about electric trucks, right there on the tee-vee!!!
Mon Sep 21, 2020, 06:12 PM
Sep 2020

Amazon wouldn't lie about their environmental commitment . . . . would they??!!??

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
2. Well,
Mon Sep 21, 2020, 06:24 PM
Sep 2020

The pledge was by 2030 and it is repurposing equipment that still has service life in it so there is an argument to be made that they are doing something positive in the face of a spike in demand for air cargo.

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