Ryanair is extending backing for research at Trinity College Dublin into making air travel more sustainable and pledging a further €2.5 million to the university, the airline announced on Thursday.
The pair joined forces in September 2021 to establish the Ryanair Sustainable Aviation Research Centre at the Dublin university with €1.5 million in funding from the Irish carrier to tackle challenges that climate change poses to air travel.
Ryanair confirmed it would extend its support for the centre to the end of the decade and committed to providing a further €2.5 million to the project, bringing total funding to €4 million.
Trinity’s research focuses on sustainable aviation fuel and zero-carbon propulsion systems for aircraft along with scrutinising aviation’s non-carbon dioxide emissions.
Results the centre has given the EU’s Aviation Safety Agency show that using a 50 per cent sustainable aviation fuel blend can cut the emissions from flying a passenger on a Boeing 737-800 Next Generation from Amsterdam to Dublin by 43 per cent.
Ryanair claims that using one of its Boeing 737-8200 aircraft can cut these emissions further as that aircraft uses 16 per cent less fuel.
Thomas Fowler, the airline’s director of sustainability, said its goals of reaching net zero carbon by 2050 and using 12.5 per cent sustainable aviation fuel by 2030 would not be possible without Trinity’s research.
“Expanding out the research to better understand the non-CO2 impacts from aviation is an important next step to lead our industry towards more sustainable aviation,” he added.
Dr Linda Doyle, Trinity’s provost and president, noted that the Irish university was now an “international destination for sustainable aviation research”.
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Prof Sinéad Ryan, Trinity’s dean of research predicted Ryanair’s continued backing would help deliver improvements and innovations.
It emerged this week that the British government hopes to push through new laws for sustainable aviation fuel supports before its general election in the coming months.
The UK, one of Ryanair’s biggest markets, has pledged that 10 per cent of fuel used by jets taking off from its airports will be sustainable by 2030.
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