PASSENGERS with low fare air giant Flybe are to be told exactly how much damage their journey is doing to the environment.
Tickets will come with information about fuel use, carbon dioxide emissions and the noise patterns of its planes. Travellers will then be asked if they want to offset the impact of their journey by making donations to a green charity.
The firm, Southampton Airport's largest carrier, says this "eco-labelling" plan is the first of its kind and will let people choose which route or aircraft is the least environmentally damaging.
Flybe says it has invested more than £2 billion in "new state-of-the-art environmentally sensitive aircraft".
Emissions
UK charity Pure has been selected to oversee carbon offsetting schemes for Flybe passengers. Emissions caused by aviation are six per cent of the UK's total but look set to increase significantly, with air travel predicted to rise three-fold by 2050, based on 2003 levels.
Jim French, Flybe chief executive and chairman, said: "Flybe acknowledge that human activity, including air travel, is contributing to global climate change.
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"Flybe acknowledges and takes seriously its responsibility to reduce the carbon emissions produced by our aircraft and this we are seeking to do, through the purchase of the most environmentally sensitive aircraft, deployment of the right size aircraft on the right routes, and constant improvements in our operational processes
"We take up the challenge to make Flybe as environmentally sensitive as possible.
"We believe that through the provision of information to consumers they will exercise choice ie, I need to make this journey and I know my choice has the least impact on my neighbourhood and the environment'."
Posted by: Andy, Locks Heath on 11:27am Thu 7 Jun 07
Leaving aside for a moment that whole carbon emissions and global warming are two completely separate things despite us constantly and wrongly being told by the media that one is totally responsible for the other - what are passengers expected to do with these stats? You can't compare them with other airlines because a) they don;t produce them b) they don;t fly the same planes or c) they don;t fly the same routes. It's not as though you can fly from SOuthampton on another carrier so you have to calculate the carbon emissions on making your way to another airport and possibly another destination at the other end. It's a nonsense. I would also argue that most people do not know how to interpret the information given to them. For instance it is certainly true that modern planes emit less carbon than the comparable jets of twenty - even ten years ago. So do we infer that air travel is now a good thing? Some people would look at the stats and conclude "yes". Conserving fossil fuels is a good thing but now that the eco fascists have got a foot in the door I'm not going to let them saddle me with this idea that the human race can somehow be happier if all technological progress is halted. That's an even bigger nonsense than the carbon fallacy.
Leaving aside for a moment that whole carbon emissions and global warming are two completely separate things despite us constantly and wrongly being told by the media that one is totally responsible for the other - what are passengers expected to do with these stats? You can't compare them with other airlines because a) they don;t produce them b) they don;t fly the same planes or c) they don;t fly the same routes. It's not as though you can fly from SOuthampton on another carrier so you have to calculate the carbon emissions on making your way to another airport and possibly another destination at the other end. It's a nonsense. I would also argue that most people do not know how to interpret the information given to them. For instance it is certainly true that modern planes emit less carbon than the comparable jets of twenty - even ten years ago. So do we infer that air travel is now a good thing? Some people would look at the stats and conclude "yes". Conserving fossil fuels is a good thing but now that the eco fascists have got a foot in the door I'm not going to let them saddle me with this idea that the human race can somehow be happier if all technological progress is halted. That's an even bigger nonsense than the carbon fallacy.
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