By Mohamed Attia
A new approach taken by the Ministry of Civil Aviation during the current period, which is to transform its sectors and companies to be environmentally friendly, by relying on clean energy in their work.
This trend comes as part of the state’s efforts to support the transition towards a green economy in order to reduce waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, given the growing global momentum on the importance of supporting climate action and the trend towards supporting the financing of green and environmentally friendly projects to confront climate change.
The past few days have witnessed the signing of co-operation protocols by the Ministries of Civil Aviation, Environment, Trade and Industry to implement solar energy plants at Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport, one in the arrival hall with a capacity of 300 kilowatts and another to install 5 megawatts to cover the airport’s consumption throughout the year.
Minister of Civil Aviation Pilot Mohamed Manar said that signing a co-operation protocol to implement a solar power plant at Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport comes as part of the Egyptian state’s strategy to expand the use of new and renewable energy and turn Sharm El-Sheikh into a “green city” coinciding with Egypt’s hosting of COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh in November.
The minister indicated that the signing of the protocol expresses coordination between various ministries, agencies and the United Nations Development Programme to stimulate the use of environmentally friendly energy and spread awareness towards the optimal use of natural resources that characterize the city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Minister Manar confirmed that the protocol is one of the many subsequent steps that will be taken, as work is currently underway to use clean energy at Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport to transform it into an environmentally-friendly airport.
The environmentally-friendly passenger building project at Borg El-Arab International Airport, in co-operation with the Japanese agency JICA is among the most important civil aviation projects as part of an integrated strategy of the Ministry of Civil Aviation to transform the entire aviation sector into an environmentally-friendly sector in coordination with various ministries, which will of course contribute to limiting climate changes and implementing the Egyptian state’s strategy and Egypt’s vision 2030 to achieve sustainable development.
This also comes after the success of EgyptAir in operating the first flight with environmentally-friendly services between Cairo and Paris led by Minister Manar, which is the first flight of its kind in the African continent.
The national company seeks to generalise the system of environmentally-friendly flights in the coming period in line with the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s plan to confront the effects of climate change through the presence of an integrated environmental system that applies all local and international recommendations and legislation in the field of aviation related to environmental protection and pollution reduction.
Amr Aboul-Enein, head of EgyptAir Holding Company, said that it is planned in the future that all the company’s flights will be environmentally-friendly, which confirms EgyptAir’s leadership in the air transport industry, being the first airline established in Africa and the Middle East and the seventh company in the world, where the company celebrates this year the 90th anniversary of its establishment
Abul-Enein added that the national company aims that the current year 2022 will be the beginning of the launch of many “sustainable development initiatives”, as a timetable has been set for all flights to Europe with environmentally friendly products and services by 2025, provided that they will be circulated to all flights of the airline network, respectively.
He explained that EgyptAir’s plan aims to reduce the use of “single-use” plastic materials on its flights by 90 per cent, and the company identified 27 products made of single-use plastic that were used on its planes and replaced them with environmentally friendly products.
Karim Jamil, Director of Mitigation and Emissions Equation Department in the Safety and Quality Sector at EgyptAir Holding Company, said that the “environmentally friendly” flight that the company conducted came in light of the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s keenness to achieve the state’s strategy in sustainable development, pointing out that this development is achieved when each sector implements steps of that strategy.
He added that environmentally-friendly flights aim to support the country’s strategy to reach an integrated sustainable ecosystem, and are in line with the United Nations’ global goals as part of sustainable development, pointing out that EgyptAir has developed an action plan to achieve this.
EgyptAir has replaced 27 products made of plastic with environmentally-friendly products, with the aim of reducing harmful emissions and in order to preserve the environment.
EgyptAir seeks to implement an integrated and sustainable environmental system that applies all local and international recommendations and legislation in the field of aviation, related to environmental protection.
