In our air operations

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), aviation is responsible for roughly 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The industry is devoting significant energies to limit as far as possible its CO₂ emissions and impact on global warming. Research and technological advances have allowed for a 70% improvement in energy efficiency over the past 40 years. A part of this improved efficiency is the direct result of air carriers’ efforts to optimize their operations, both on the ground and in the air.

Our carrier, Air Transat, Canada’s No. 1 holiday travel airline, is working hard to reduce its fuel consumption. It has implemented, and annually fine-tunes, a comprehensive greenhouse gas reduction and fuel management program that is setting the industry standard.

Two other factors are keeping our average consumption figures — 3.26 litres per passenger/100 km in 2008 — on a par with the most energy-efficient air carriers:

• We operate long-haul flights, which are relatively less energy-consuming than short- and medium-haul flights, because takeoffs and landings require greater fuel consumption than when the plane is travelling at cruising speed.
• Our holiday travel niche means that occupancy rates in our planes are very high.

Air Transat is also focusing a lot of energy on many other environmental initiatives. We are in the process of obtaining LEED-EB certification for the company’s Montréal facilities, are developing an environmental management system to qualify for ISO 14001, and are working on ways to make the cabin service on-board our aircraft more environmentally friendly, not to mention our efforts to reduce waste and recycle in our offices.