EasyJet emissions breakthrough

A slight fall in net profit but generally satisfactory full-year results gave easyJet an ideal platform last week to announce it had become the first major airline to operate net zero carbon flights.

The company said as of the day of the announcement it was now offsetting the carbon emissions from the fuel used for all its flights on behalf of all its customers through schemes accredited by the verification systems Gold Standard and VCS.

The airline also noted carbon offsetting was only an interim measure while new technologies were developed and easyJet would continue working with others across the industry to "reinvent and de-carbonise" aviation over the long term.

Technologies being looked at included the development of hybrid and electric planes, with easyJet saying it had signed a research agreement to analyse the opportunities and challenges surrounding such aircraft.

EasyJet has also been supporting Wright Electric in the US in Wright’s aim of producing an all-electric short-haul aircraft (BTN 27 March 2017) and working with Rolls-Royce and Safran on new technologies to reduce aviation’s carbon footprint.

The announcements came as easyJet published results for the year to 30 September 2019 with 96.1m passengers (+8.6%) and revenue of £6.4bn (+8.3%). Operating profit was £466m, up slightly from £463m, but net profit dipped from £358m to £349m.

www.easyjet.com     www.goldstandard.org

www.carbonfootprint.com/vcs.html     https://weflywright.com

www.rolls-royce.com    www.safran-group.com

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