December Newsletter from Safe Landing

Hi everybody! As our 2024 flight path comes in to land, this will be our last newsletter of the year, as we prepare for take-off again in 2025!

Read on to find out about the variety of activities our core crew and community got up to in November, and please sign-up to our final expert talk of the year from Georgi Atanasov of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), who will present his research on Plug-in Hybrid-Electric Propulsion. Georgi's last Safe Landing talk on 'flying slower' was our best attended event so far this year, so be sure not to miss this one!

Register here: https://safe-landing.org/expert-talk-hybrid-flight/

Coming up in December

• Expert Talk by Georgi Atanasov - DLR: 'Plug-In Hybrid Propulsion' (online, Zoom) - Thu 12th Dec 12:00 UTC - Register here.
• Community Check-In (online, Zoom) - Thu 19th Dec 19:00 UTC - Register here.

Community Check-In

Due to the holidays, this month's Community Check-In is on the 19th of December. Next year, we will host our Community Check-In's every last Thursday of the month. Register here. Add all meetings in 2025 to your calendar using this link. It is a great place to:

• meet like-minded aviation workers
• hear what Safe Landing is up to
• discuss relevant aviation topics
• find out how to get involved

Get involved

The Safe Landing core team of five is passionate and dedicated, but we can’t accomplish maximum impact alone. We need your help. Within your possibilities and comfort level, we ask you to take action and support us in our mission.?

• Follow and share - Follow us on social media, such as LinkedIn, share our posts, and encourage your colleagues to get involved too.
• Talk about Safe Landing - Help us grow by sharing information about Safe Landing with your colleagues and network. Feel free to use our content and spread the word.
• Write a guest blog - Share your story about how you’re contributing to reducing the climate impact of aviation, either anonymously or openly. Or, write a relevant and in-dept piece within your area of expertise. Contact us at [email protected].
• Trade union member and/or Airbus employee? George would like to hear from you at [email protected].
• Bring your communication, organising, design and/or web development skills to the team - If this resonates and you are thinking about doing good and spending some of your spare time on a voluntary basis with Safe Landing. Brilliant! Please get in contact with [email protected].?
• Have other suggestions? - We’re always open to new ideas and ways to involve our community. Contact us if you have suggestions or want to get involved at [email protected].

Together, we change course towards a Safe Landing!

What Safe Landing got up to in November

• 12th Nov - Finlay took the ferry to Ireland to discuss sustainability with aircraft leasing companies and interviewed the Chief Sustainability Officer of Boeing at the ALI Global Aviation Sustainability Day. Read about it here.
• 14th Nov - Alex Chapman from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) gave an Expert Talk about ‘How to set up a frequent flying levy in Europe?’ Watch the recording here.
• 18th Nov - George travelled to Sweden (by train) on invitation by Member of the European Parliament Carola Rackete to join the Seeds of Action tour and present our Workers’ Assemblies campaign.
• 21th Nov - Finlay presented our position on alternative jet fuels, or so-called “SAF” to the community group CAGNE who campaign on Gatwick Airport (UK). Please get in contact if you want Safe Landing to present to your organisation.?
• 25-26th Nov - Safe Landing member Sian attended the 'Aviation Carbon' event in London (UK) and got a good message across that contrails are an opportunity for positive climate action during a panel discussion.
• 27th Nov - George and Finlay presented Safe Landing's view of the aviation industry strategy and proposals for Workers' Assemblies to Bombardier employees in Canada who are part of the 'Unifor' union and work in a business jet manufacturing factory.
• 28th Nov - During this month’s Community Check-In we had members joining from many countries: India, New Zealand, United States and all across Europe. We shared valuable experiences and discussed the differences of aviation growth all over the world.?

Expert Talk by Alex Chapman (NEF): ‘How to set up a frequent flying levy in Europe?’

Alex took us through the methodology used in the study, key findings, and proposals for how to implement the measures. He explained the reasons and design of the proposals and discussed with us how to make it a credible policy option in the EU and at country-level.

Watch here

Safe Landing attend ALI “Global Aviation Sustainability Day” in Dublin

Finlay travelled by ferry to attend the Aircraft Leasing Ireland conference in Dublin. Can the aviation industry truly embrace sustainability, or are we just circling the runway of 'business as usual'??

Read more

COP29 – Aviation Worker Proposals

Safe Landing's COP29 proposals advocates for all countries to include all international aviation emissions in NDCs submitted in 2025 (including contrails), establish an “Aviation Ambition Coalition” to lead on aviation climate action and introduce an international air passenger levy.

Read more

Contrail avoidance: aviation’s climate opportunity of the decade – Safe Landing response

A new study by Transport & Environment (T&E) has found that tweaking the flight plans of only a small number of flights to avoid contrails could reduce contrail warming by half.

Read more

Todd shares his story on Mongabay podcast

Todd was invited to share his story on the Mongabay podcast about leaving his dream career as a commercial pilot after witnessing firsthand the impacts of climate change. Now, he’s dedicated to reshaping aviation into an industry aligned with climate science, sustainable practices, and long-term job security.

Listen here

UK Air Passenger Duty (APD) Rise – Safe Landing respond in Aviation Week

Safe Landing calls for bold, emissions-focused reforms to UK’s ADP to drive sustainable aviation policies: “A revised APD regime could start to provide incentives to passengers and fleet owners to choose lower-emission aircraft, rather than merely imposing additional costs.”

Read more

Pilots in France went on strike to oppose the French government’s plans to triple taxes on plane tickets

Usually, we would be in full support of striking workers. To be clear, we absolutely support the right of workers to exercise their power and their right to withdraw their labour. But why are we sceptical about this particular strike by French pilots?

Read more

AUAS Aviation Academy interviews Maxine about Safe Landing

The Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) Aviation Academy interviewed Maxine for their column ‘A day in the life of an Alumnus’ where she shared her story about working at Safe Landing.

Read more

Join our Telegram groups

For more regular announcements and updates, please join our Safe Landing 'Broadcast' group on Telegram: Join 'Broadcast' group

For more regular contact with other community crew members, please join our Safe Landing 'Discussion' group on Telegram: Join 'Discussion' group

We hope to see you at our final events of 2024 on the 12th and 19th of December.? If you have any questions, would like to learn more and get involved, please get in touch via [email protected] or hit the 'reply' button on this e-mail. We would love to hear from you! We encourage you to spread the word about our Safe Landing community within your workplace. Together we change course towards a safe landing!

Take care,

The Safe Landing Team