European air-safety regulator EASA is exploring plans to grade aircraft according to carbon emissions and pollution, reports say.

European air-safety regulator EASA is exploring plans to grade aircraft according to carbon emissions and pollution, reports say.

The organisation said passengers are increasingly demanding information about the environmental impact of flights and how to make better choices.

EASA says it has already started work on a labelling system similar to that used to rate the efficiency of household appliances such as refrigerators.

Data

“Passengers told us they would like to know the environmental performance of the aircraft they are taking,” Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Aviation Safety Agency, is quoted as saying at a briefing in Cologne, Germany. “Customers get smarter and smarter and make more informed decisions about which airlines and airports they use.”

He noted that the data for the rating system would need to be “indisputable”.