A discussion about the airline industry, airline employees, and all things related

This Sunday (April 22, 2007) is Earth Day.  Whether you agree with experts about the status of our home or not and whether you differ on how fast the process is taking place, this day gives everyone the opportunity to reflect on Earth, our home.  Just because this day comes just once a year does not mean we should quickly forget about our planet, but instead remember it each day. 

Virgin Blue in Australia offers a carbon offset program.  “At Virgin Blue and our international airlines Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue, we take our commitment to [minimizing] the environmental impact of our business very seriously through a range of activities under our environmental management program.” 

Delta Air Lines also recently started a carbon offset program.  Delta becomes the first U.S. airline to help its customers give back to the environment by buying trees to help offset carbon emissions associated with air travel.

Customers starting on June 1^st, passengers on any Delta flight can choose to donate $5.50 (domestic round trip) or $11 (international round trip) when booking their flights online at Delta.com 

To start the program, Delta is making a donation to The Conservation Fund for every customer taking a Delta mainline or Delta Shuttle flight on Earth Day, and is pledging a commitment to plant a tree for each of the airline's 47,000 employees.

Other airlines who offer ‘Earth-friendly’ options:

Virgin Atlantic:  reducing aircraft weight and purchase renewable energy for offices. 

British Airways:  emissions trading scheme and establishing carbon offsetting. 

JetBlue Airways, American Airlines, and Singapore Airlines: in-flight recycling and waste-management programs

PrimeNewsWire   

Go Carbon Zero

(picture from NASA.gov)