Managing the growth in demand for aviation, reducing growth rates and reducing absolute levels of flying have been excluded from policy debate. This is not compatible with the policy commitment to sustainable development. Demand management is a well-established part of the overall approach to dealing with the growth of car and lorry traffic and dealing with energy consumption (e.g. energy conservation and least cost planning). Demand management in aviation could embrace three main "pillars": the internalisation of external costs to make "prices tell the ecological truth"; the transfer of passengers from air trips to rail trips for those journeys where this us appropriate (45% of all flights in the EU are less than 500km in length); electronic substitution and the use of video-conferencing and related technologies as a substitute for physical travel.

The report makes 9 recommendations all of which are aimed at recognising the sustainable development agenda and ensuring that aviation plays its full proportionate part in delivering sustainability:

http://www.sei.se/aviation/SEI-Aviation-Report.pdf