Travel and tourism has to speak with one voice to counter misconceptions that persist about air travel’s impact on the environment, PATA’s Mr David Gillbanks has told IATA’s Asia Pacific Communications Conference in Manila “Accounting for only 2% of global carbon emissions, aviation still manages to take the brunt of bad press and consumer angst related to climate change,” he said.
    “Unless we make concerted efforts to collectively address the issue and communicate our positive actions and intentions, regulators will take the initiative from us.”
    At a workshop on the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG)‘s “enviro.aero” initiative yesterday, Mr Gillbanks offered PATA’s cross-sectoral endorsement of ATAG’s top-level messaging in Asia Pacific.
    ATAG wants to pre-empt in the Asia Pacific region what the aviation sector in Europe is currently reacting to; public policy-making and consumer and media hostility based on mistaken beliefs about the extent of aviation’s environmental impact.
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