British Airways Boeing 777-300 Extended Range Edition aircraft specifically 777-36N (ER) as seen on ... [+]
Against the backdrop of growing negative sentiment around the environmental impact of air travel, British Airways is launching a new initiative to automatically carbon offset all of its flights operated within the United Kingdom.
Starting on January 1st of 2020, British Airways is now offsetting and paying for all of its domestic flights automatically, irrespective of whether passengers opt in.
Most major air carriers offer the option to carbon offset flights somewhere in the booking process, but until now, passengers were largely asked to pick up the financial burden. For short haul flights, the carbon offset often costs in the $3-$5 range; longer flights can cost up to $25.
Moving forward, British is only picking up the tab for the approximately 75 domestic flights that it operates daily out of London. International passengers can still pay for offsets though; according to a release from British Airways, a short-haul domestic flight will cost around £1 to offset while a long haul, business class journey will cost around £15. If it costs £1 per passenger to offset a short haul flight and British operates 75 flights each day with a capacity of 150 passengers, the airline is thus roughly on the hook for about £11,250 each day.
Despite this cost, the initiative may well be worth the effort for the carrier. In the last few years, many travelers throughout Europe have retreated from air travel as the carbon impact from flying weighs on the environment. The term flygskam, or “flight shame,” has taken root in Scandinavia as travelers consider rail or ferries over flying while publications from The New York Times to Quartz regularly question whether leisure travelers should give up flying altogether.
The new program, of course, won’t prevent the carbon produced from air travel from entering the environment. But it will help offsetting initiatives around the world. According to the missive from British, that includes “quality assured projects such as renewable energy, protection of rainforests and reforestation programmes.”
British Airways also isn’t the only carrier to start taking carbon offsetting more seriously. Earlier this month, JetBlue Airways announced an initiative to offset up to 17 billion pounds of carbon each year, covering all of the domestic flights in its network.
Like with JetBlue, the move from British is a healthy dose of brand building in addition to the environmental upside. Those concerned with the carbon impact of air travel on British and considering a rail option can now rest assured their flights have taken environmental considerations. And if BA comes off as eco-friendlier, it’ll also help the overall brand.
