Company News from yesinsurance

9 December 2008 Air Travel Is Wiping Out Benefits Of Green Motoring, Says Insurer

Latest national fuel consumption figures show that increases in air travel are wiping out all improvements derived from green motoring, according to motor insurer yesinsurance.co.uk.

The insurer says that figures released at the end of last month by the Department of Transport show that petroleum use by cars has decreased over the past 10 years, despite the fact that the number of vehicles on the road has increased.

However, over the same period, aviation fuel consumption has grown by around 50 per cent.

yesinsurance says that this trend will become even more pronounced over the next twenty years, as alternative fuels take over from petrol in the car industry, whilst air travel continues to expand. The insurer predicts that air travel will become the bigger user of petroleum products within the next 19 years.

The petroleum consumption figures, which were contained in the Transport Statistics Great Britain 2008 report published on 27 November, show that 21.5 million tonnes of petrol and diesel were consumed by cars and taxis in 2007, down from 23.0 million tonnes in 1997. This is despite the fact that the number of private cars increased from 21.7 million to 26.9 million between 1997 and 2007.

Over the same period, the report shows that the use of aviation fuel increased from 8.5 million tonnes to 12.7 million tonnes.

“Cars have become much more fuel efficient over the past ten years, and with the launch of large numbers of efficient electric cars within the next ten to fifteen years, this trend is going to become more pronounced,” said Paul Purdy of yesinsurance.

“By 2027 we expect aviation to become the bigger user of petroleum products, partly due to the continued expansion of air travel and partly due to the fact that cars are becoming less dependent on it as a fuel source,” he said.