The Lufthansa Group’s Green Fares has been well received since it was launched a year ago – with more than one million passengers opting for the new fare – and demand continues to rise steadily in all booking classes, underlining the success of this sustainable option.
Available with Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, SWISS, Edelweiss, Discover Airlines and Air Dolomiti on more than 730,000 flights per year within Europe and to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, the Lufthansa Group has also been testing Green Fares on selected longhaul routes since November 2023.
In the first year, an average of three per cent of passengers have used the offer, making an important contribution to more sustainable travel. In Business Class, Green Fares tickets are already selected for eleven per cent of bookings via the Lufthansa Group portals.
Green Fares are particularly popular on routes such as Hamburg-Munich, Zurich-London and Frankfurt-Berlin. In total, travellers have offset more than 77,000 tonnes of CO2 since the launch of Green Fares by offsetting their flight-related CO2 emissions.
Green Fares includes the full offsetting of individual, flight-related CO2 emissions by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as well as a contribution to high-quality climate protection projects. With SAF, a reduction of 20 per cent of CO2 emissions is achieved, while the remaining 80 per cent is compensated by climate protection projects. The Lufthansa Group ensures that the amount of SAF required for offsetting is fed into the airport infrastructure within six months of purchase.
The Lufthansa Group’s CO2 compensation portfolio currently comprises 15 projects, including two technology-based projects.
Currently, around four per cent of Lufthansa Group passengers use one of the various offers for more sustainable flying. Passengers can either select a special fare such as the Green Fares, or individually tailored offers with a higher proportion of SAF during the booking process. They can also offset flight-related CO2 emissions during or after the flight.
In addition to private customers, more corporate customers are also using one of the Lufthansa Group’s offers for more sustainable flying – in 2023, more than 1,500 companies worldwide invested in SAF with the Lufthansa Group.
The Lufthansa Group has set itself ambitious climate protection goals and aims to achieve a neutral CO2 balance by 2050, halving its net CO2 emissions by 2030. As the first airline group in Europe with a science-based CO2 reduction target in line with the goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, the group is focusing on accelerated fleet modernisation, the continuous optimisation of flight operations, the use of SAF and offers for its private travellers and corporate customers to make air travel more sustainable.
Based in Hong Kong, Schellenberger will be also be joining the Group Leadership Team.
With more than 25 years of management experience across the globe including Maldives, Dubai and Indonesia, he was most recently general manager of Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa.
Air New Zealand has launched a global open invitation to innovators and start-ups in the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) sector to become a supply partner to the airline.
It is the first time an airline has made a global call to potential suppliers in the burgeoning SAF industry to work together on supply opportunities.
This invitation is the latest step in Air New Zealand’s journey to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 – it is looking to enter short, medium, and long-term SAF offtake agreements.
The airline’s Opportunity Statement provides an overview of Air New Zealand’s SAF requirements based on its network, fleet, sustainability targets and criteria. It is intended to kickstart discussion for ongoing collaboration as well as identify new opportunities.
As the second airline globally to announce an interim science-based target, which was validated by the Science Based Targets initiative, Air New Zealand requires a 28.9 per cent reduction in carbon intensity by 2030, from a 2019 baseline. In addition, the airline anticipates it will need SAF to make up around 20 per cent of its total fuel uptake by 2030, alongside a long term and strategic regulatory package, which it is actively advocating for.
Air New Zealand chief sustainability officer, Kiri Hannifin, says SAF is integral to the aviation industry’s future, and that the airline is known for pushing boundaries and thinking differently, and is committed to meeting its decarbonisation goals.
“Air New Zealand plays an essential role in connecting New Zealand’s people, tourism, and trade to the world, but we must find a way to do this more sustainably and as quickly as we can. A stable supply of SAF is critical to our ability to reduce carbon emissions and continue to play this role for the long term,” noted Hannifin.
“That’s why (we are) asking emerging SAF producers from around the world to connect with us and respond to the Opportunity Statement.”