In Abu Dhabi, the government aircraft carrying Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Green Party) took off on a Monday at 3:33 AM local time (1:33 AM in Germany). The plane had been refuelled for its onward journey to Australia.
However, shortly after takeoff, the captain noticed a defect in the retraction of the flaps. As a result, the A340, with Baerbock on board, circled over the United Arab Emirates and the sea for two hours, releasing about 80 tons of kerosene to ensure a safe landing in Abu Dhabi.
On the following Tuesday at 1:00 AM local time, the government plane took off again, and once again, the technical issue occurred. The aircraft had to release large amounts of kerosene once more to land in Abu Dhabi.
The Federal Aviation Office states that releasing kerosene in the air only occurs in urgent or emergency situations, such as medical emergencies or technical malfunctions. To ensure a safe landing, only a limited amount of fuel can be on board. This often leads to fuel dumping, also known as fuel jettisoning, particularly on long-haul flights.
According to the Federal Aviation Office, a total of 32 cases involving German aircraft or airlines were registered in 2022, with four of them occurring over North Rhine-Westphalia. The amounts of fuel released varied between 0.5 and 89 tons. Aircraft of other nationalities, however, are not required to report such incidents to the Federal Aviation Office.
During airborne fuel jettisoning, the fuel is atomized into fine droplets at an altitude of at least 1,800 meters, causing most of it to evaporate into the air, although the Federal Aviation Office notes that this generally occurs at higher altitudes between four and eight kilometres.
Regarding the effects of airborne fuel jettisoning on people, the environment, and the climate, the German Environment Agency commissioned a study. The key finding was that, according to current knowledge, fuel jettisoning does not have critical effects on humans and the environment, as reported by the agency in December 2020.
However, the agency still calls for changes to further minimize potential impacts, such as varying the areas where fuel is released and increasing the minimum release altitude to around 3,000 meters.
The environmental impact of fuel jettisoning thus depends not only on the amount of released kerosene but also on the location and altitude of the release.
Allegedly, fuel jettisoning is said to make no significant contribution to greenhouse gas concentrations and thus to climate change. Nevertheless, climate-harming CO2 is produced through the jettisoning process.
According to the German Aviation Association, the “fine mist” created by the released kerosene in the atmosphere is transformed into water and carbon dioxide by sunlight.