Can Rail Reduce British Aviation Emissions: Airport-to-Airport Origin-Destination Data, 1990-2021

Morgan, Malcolm (2024). Can Rail Reduce British Aviation Emissions: Airport-to-Airport Origin-Destination Data, 1990-2021. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-857557

The UK is facing an energy crisis on three fronts: climate change, energy security, and affordability. This challenge requires a fundamental change in our society, to enable a deep energy demand reduction and wide use of low-carbon technologies, supported by policy, businesses and the public alike. Energy demand reduction is in fact fundamental so that we can improve energy security, reduce household energy bills and address climate change. Research has shown that reducing energy use could help meet half of the required emissions reductions we need by 2050 to become a Net Zero society. While this poses a challenge, it also provides an opportunity for the UK to become a global leader in energy demand reduction, and associated research.

The Energy Demand Research Centre (EDRC) develops the next phase of energy demand research in the UK, building on previous research and working closely with academic and non-academic partners. Our work will inform and inspire energy demand reductions that support an affordable, comfortable and secure Net Zero society. Our research programme cuts across different sciences (e.g. engineering and social) and sectors (e.g. buildings, transport and industry). We study which energy demand solutions can be delivered in a flexible and equitable manner and at which locations, taking into consideration issues such as local housing stock and transport links, skills base and governance models. We aim to deliver impactful research on energy demand that produces actionable solutions for industry, policy makers, practitioners and charities.

Data description (abstract)

The data collection contains airport-airport origin-destination data for UK domestic and international flights between 1990 and 2021. The data includes estimates of the number of flights, passengers, and emissions in the form of tables and GIS-compatible formats. The data was derived from airport statistics and can be used to understand temporal-spatial trends in aviation demand and emissions.

Data contains three files:
airports - a shape file with the point locations of the airport used in the analysis
OD_lines - a shape file with the origin-destination lines between airports (great circle distance)
OD_attributes - a CSV file with columns for passengers, flights, and emissions for each year between 1990 and 2021. The attributes can be joined to the shape file via a shared id value.

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