Recently in Air transport Category

The organisers of last week's Aviation & Environment Summit have now put all the speeches and presentations online. Some very interesting material for everyone.

This is the big one. with my colleague Aimee Turner I'm in Geneva for the 3rd Aviaton & Environment Summit, organised by IATA, ATAG, ACI, CANSO and the ICCAIA - that's the International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations.

The organisers are talking about 450 delegates, which is a plausible number, and of an exceptionally senior level. There is certainly an impressive selection of CEOs here - of which more later - and Airbus president and CEO Tom Enders is tucked away in the middle of row seven of the audience.

Here we are all are settling down for the morning. It's the darkest conference room I've ever been in and I can barely take notes.

A serious piece by a serious man. Airbus CEO Tom Enders, today writes about aviation and the environment in The Guardian.

An interestingly pitched article - addressed to the industry urging it to do better, but aired in public and noting the industry's achievements to date.

It's attracting plenty of comments - usual mix of sense and nonsense, but including some encouragingly engaged contributions from the anti-camp.

Environmentalists would do well to talk with Enders. He's a straight-talking German who somehow managed to survive the lethal Franco-German in-fighting that plagued Airbus' parent company EADs over the past couple of years. Among journalists he's respected for giving direct, considered answers and expecting intelligent treatment in return.

Well as you can see, the crack team of branding experts to which we have access here at Flight have finished their work and our blog about aviation and the environment is ready to launch. We're calling it "Aviation and the Environment" - pretty edgy I'm sure you'll agree.

Here's what we're trying to do:

• Quickly and conveniently comment on environmental issues
• Guide visitors around our own and other organisations' published material
• Host an objective debate about environmental issues

Our starting position is that a) air transport is broadly beneficial to humankind but b) it has a negative effect on the environment and c) the resulting issues are complex and require serious debate.

We do think the standard of debate is currently not all it might be. But we're not here to champion the industry, and we truly hope that we'll hear from all sides. We will post all comments received (within the usual bounds of taste and decency) and look forward to hearing from you.