British Airways leading the way!?

BA though they get a lot of negative press for late flights and lost baggage do seem surprisingly specific about their efforts to improve their environmental impact. Now the question is how do they compare to their peers?

"British Airways as an aviation industry leader

Over the past few years we have led the aviation industry in the following key areas of climate change:

• our Chief Executive, Willie Walsh is the only representative from the airline industry to sit on the Confederation of British Industry Climate Change task force
• we are the only airline in the world to have participated in carbon trading through the UK government’s voluntary scheme
• the first airline to introduce a voluntary carbon offset scheme for passengers when we joined forces with Climate Care in 2005
• a founding member of the Sustainable Aviation group of airlines and aerospace companies
• campaign for an industry-wide solution to neutralising aviation’s carbon footprint through international carbon trading. As a direct result, the European Commission is preparing legislation for the EU carbon-trading scheme to include aviation from 2011
• work closely with governments around the world to shorten air traffic routes and we are encouraging the European Commission to streamline routings. It is estimated this could reduce emissions across Europe by 12 per cent per annum

Research on the impact of aviation

We also support research to improve understanding around the impact of aviation on the upper atmosphere. By better understanding the impact, new solutions can be developed to reduce the effects.

Pioneering operational practices

Since 1990 we have been actively engaged in the following innovative ways of reducing our impact on climate change:

• improving the fuel efficiency of our fleet by 28 per cent, cutting carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by more than 60 million tonnes during this period – over three times our annual CO₂ emissions
• investing over £7 billion in newer, more efficient aircraft resulting in halving noise impact in the last five years
• having a dedicated in-house team responsible for monitoring and reducing the weight onboard an aircraft to reduce fuel burn
• introducing new practices for the industry such as continuous descent when aircraft come into land rather than a series of short descents to set altitudes
• reducing ground energy at Heathrow by investing in newer, cleaner vehicles for ground staff at the airport and introducing more efficient practices
• encouraging staff to use public transport to travel to work or enter into car share schemes

Future improvements

We continue to work with aircraft manufacturers as we prepare to order the next generation of aircraft fleet. This ensures that we will benefit from the latest environmentally friendly technology and achieve CO₂ reductions of 17 - 30 per cent per passenger, compared with today.

By 2020, as a member of the Sustainable Aviation group we are committed to improving fuel efficiency of new aircraft by 50 per cent, compared with 2000.

Improving environmental performance

We are committed to improving our environmental performance. We have a dedicated team of environment specialists who are focusing on the following important areas:

• effect on global climate change, caused by carbon dioxide and other emissions produced by aircraft
• impact on local communities of aircraft noise and emissions
• responsible management of waste generated from aircraft, offices, airports and other ground activities/operations
• efficient use of energy, water and materials

The team also sets the direction for our company to ensure that every part of our business embraces its contribution to managing the airline’s total impact on the environment. Some of ways in which we are doing this is by:

• having an open and honest approach to reporting environmental performance – British Airways was the first airline to produce an environmental annual report
• measuring and reporting the airline’s carbon footprint
• making sure that business and operational decisions take account of the environmental impact, this includes the development of new onboard products and services
• using new technology to address climate change by working with aircraft manufacturers and other aerospace companies "