Aviation is changing toward the goal of "Emissions: Net zero"
In today's world, environmental and climate protection is an important component of business operations. As an aviation company, we also take this issue very seriously. Flughafen Hof-Plauen GmbH & Co. KG has therefore initiated measures and launched projects to achieve the goal of "Innovate2Fly" of the Interessengemeinschaft regionaler Flugplätze e.V. (IDRF) and thus to achieve a "net zero" emission value for Hof-Plauen Airport.
Partnership with atmosfair
Aviation today is still based too much on fossil fuels - on the ground and in the air.
However, we face up to our responsibility and want to compensate our emissions already now and thereby support climate protection projects. To this end, we have concluded a contract with our partner atmosfair for the CO2 compensation of our diesel-based vehicle fleet as well as the emissions of our buildings from district heating and electricity consumption. We purchase CO2 certificates from atmosfair for the total amount of 70.3 tons of CO2 generated. With our financial contribution, we support the CDM Gold Standard project "Small-scale biogas plants for Nepal", which atmosfair organizes and implements locally.
Airport projects
To ensure that the airport can also meet its climate responsibility in operations accordingly, the management has already implemented the following projects:
- Purchase of district heating from biogas plant in the neighborhood
- Use of heat pump-driven air conditioning systems in the tower, pilot lounge and conference room
- Energy refurbishment of the tower building (Plan B project)
- Purchase of a high proportion of green electricity
- CO2 taxation of aviation fuel(SESTA surcharge) and additional emissions certificate trading
- Voluntary emission compensation for fuel consumption with aerops
Bee colonies at the airport
Together with beekeeper Marc Ruddigkeit, we have established three bee colonies at the airport site in the area of runway 08. Hopefully, the bees will soon provide tasty airport honey!
In addition, the following other projects are currently being planned or implemented:
- Replacement construction of a new thermally insulated vehicle hall (for fire department garage) - in implementation
- Hangar energy roof refurbishment (for the construction of a PV system) - completed in August 2023
- Sustainable, climate-robust forest conversion in cooperation with Hospitalstiftung Hof - in implementation until 2027
- Installation of a sensor system for testing the content of pollutants in wastewater - in implementation
- Construction of a PV system on hangar roofs - in planning
- Creation of a flowering area on the slope runway 08 - in planning
- Blending rate of SAF in the aviation fuel sector - in planning
Climate-neutral aviation
Like all modes of mobility, aviation must change. Currently, flight operations are still based on the approved fuels AVGAS 100 LL (aviation gasoline) for piston engines and JET-A1 (kerosene) for turbine engines. Since these fossil fuels are currently (still) without alternative, aviation must research new propulsion systems and fuels under the aspects of safety and reliability.
In this context, novel fuels such as PtL or eFuels (CO2-neutral/synthetically produced fuels) will represent a bridging technology to get closer to the goal of "climate-neutral flying". SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) is another option for temporarily reducing CO2 emissions in a targeted manner.
"We will need to keep making targeted investments in our operations in the coming years to meet aviation's climate change goals."
Ralf Kaußler, Managing Director
We will also work together with partners to find solutions that meet the needs of our customers and aviation to achieve the goal of "net-zero" operations. We will also participate in studies and events organized by associations on trend-setting environmental topics in aviation and invest in our operations from the experience gained.
CO2 taxes are already being charged on the sale of aviation fuel.
The IDRF, together with the GBAA and its respective members, has internally committed to the "Innovate2Fly - High ambitions Low emissions" program, which will help aviation strive for climate neutrality.
For information on the Innovate2Fly project, visit the IDRF website.