Ex-BA boss: drop green aviation policies if costs outweigh benefits

The global aviation sector will achieve a net profit of more than £24bn this year, Iata said. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

Green aviation policies should be abandoned if the costs outweigh the benefits, the head of the world’s most influential airlines body has said.

Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association (Iata) and a former British Airways boss, said achieving net zero by 2050 was “existential, not optional”.