Air New Zealand Makes Significant Carbon Emission Reductions

Air New Zealand’s fuel savings initiative programme is on track to see the airline reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by more than 100,000 tonnes.

General Manager Airline Operations Captain David Morgan says the airline has been a world-leader in examining every aspect of its flight operations to reduce carbon emissions by saving fuel.

“Air New Zealand has been at the forefront of finding ways to minimise our environmental impact and so far our flight operations programme has delivered 91,000 tonnes in reduced carbon emissions in just over three years. We had a goal of topping 100,000 tonnes within five years and we look like beating that by almost two years.

“Our initiatives range from reducing weight on aircraft to more accurate fuel loadings so we are not flying with excess fuel weight, optimising flight speeds, better use of ground power when aircraft are at the airport gate and improved descent profiles.”

Captain Morgan says future initiatives to further reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the Air New Zealand fleet include being the launch customer for the aerodynamic enhancement package on the fleet of eight Boeing 777-200 ER aircraft. Consideration is also being given to fitting winglets to the Boeing 767 fleet of five aircraft so that they fly more economically.

“Environmental responsibility is a cornerstone of Air New Zealand’s flight operations and our team has made an outstanding effort to ensure that the airline is a global leader and one our nation can be proud of.”

Captain Morgan says the fuel savings programme has also delivered a significant economic benefit to Air New Zealand.

“We are using 36 million litres less fuel on an annual basis compared to when we started this programme and this is delivering a saving of $43 million each year based on current fuel prices.

“Air New Zealand is now regularly approached by other airlines seeking to learn from our success and we are committed to making even more improvements over the next couple of years.”