The need for corporates to work towards a sustainable business has risen to an all-time high. Etihad Airways, one of the largest airlines in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) acknowledges that. The airline has recently announced that its EY20 sustainable flight will start to operate on October 23, 2021, from the London Heathrow airport to the Abu Dhabi airport. This announcement by the airline has been made to ask the travellers to come and celebrate the latest anniversary of the Etihad Greenliner Programme.
Etihad Greenliner Programme Has Turned 2 Years Old Now
The Etihad Greenliner Programme – now two years old following its inception in 2019 – uses Etihad’s Boeing 787 fleet as a testbed for sustainability improvements in partnership with organisations across the aviation industry. Back in October 2019, Etihad and Boeing signed a landmark agreement, pledging to work collaboratively on sustainable aviation solutions in both the R&D domain and regular commercial flights. Since 2019 the two companies have collaborated on areas including inflight product, airspace management, flight deck tools, sustainable fuel, and even brought in expertise from NASA to look at noise levels created by aircraft as part of Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator programme.
Mohammad Al Bulooki, Chief Operating Officer, Etihad Aviation Group, said: “Since Etihad and Boeing signed the Greenliner agreement, the two companies have been focussed on delivering sustainability solutions for the aviation industry, despite the global pandemic. The Sustainable Flight on 23 October will be a celebration of everything that has been achieved in the past two years and a great flight for Etihad’s guests who will get to see what the future of commercial air travel looks like. The fact that sustainability has stayed on the agenda during the pandemic is testament to just how important the topic is to Etihad - the sustainability challenges faced globally will still be around when COVID-19 is no longer an issue.”
With two years of ecoFlights trialling select improvements in sustainability completed as part of the Greenliner Programme, Etihad is operating this special celebratory flight to bring together the best of the past two years into a single flight. October’s flight from Heathrow will be operated with Etihad’s signature Greenliner aircraft, with a livery specifically created to recognise the Greenliner Programme and its call to action for the aviation industry.
Based on pre-flight estimations the flight will emit 72% less CO2e in total, and 56% less CO2e per unit of payload than the equivalent flight operated in 2019, thanks to a suite of interventions that will be implemented before, during and even after the flight.
