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Air New Zealand has released its latest sustainability report, which outlines the airline’s progress against its sustainability goals over the past year.
The report tackles key themes including climate change and carbon reduction, embracing diversity and inclusion, supporting sustainable tourism, working with suppliers and reducing waste and plastic.
Air New Zealand head of sustainability Lisa Daniell says she is pleased with the airline’s progress against its goals but admits there is still much work to be done.
“We have set ourselves some ambitious targets, but we’ve made great strides against our goals over the past 12 months. This includes preventing more than 15,000 tonnes of CO₂-e from entering the atmosphere through combined operational initiatives, reducing plastic by nearly 55 million items across our network, increasing the number of women in senior leadership roles to 44 percent (up from 39 percent in 2018), and flying 350,000 more customers to destinations on our regional network than in the previous year.
“Ultimately though, responding to the climate crisis remains our single biggest sustainability challenge. While we’ve continued to build efficiencies in our own operation and invest in more modern, fuel efficient aircraft to curb carbon emissions, we’ve also been pleased to see an increase in the number of travellers who offset their emissions from flying over the past year. Going forward, we would love to see more corporate customers commit to offsetting their flights as well.”
Air New Zealand 2019 sustainability highlights
- More than 180,00 customer journeys offset via the airline’s FlyNeutral voluntary carbon offsetting programme – 40% more than in 2018
- More than 2,500 tonnes of fuel and more than 8,000 tonnes of CO₂-e saved by plugging aircraft into ground power at the gate
- Women in senior leadership positions increased to 44% from 39% in 2018
- More than 400 threatened creatures and conservation dogs transported for the Department of Conservation
- 5.71 million passengers flown on the airline’s regional network – up from 5.36 million in 2018
- Nearly 55 million plastic items to be removed or replaced with lower impact alternatives by the end of October
- 120 tonnes of unopened items reinjected onto aircraft instead of going to landfill
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