easyJet Makes Sustainable Travel Accessible to Holidaymakers

14 Apr easyJet Makes Sustainable Travel Accessible to Holidaymakers

As the negative effects of climate change become more pronounced, sustainability takes priority across industries. This is especially true in the travel sector, which accounts for roughly 8% of the total global carbon emissions. As such, Essex County Council launched a local journey-planning app to help residents optimise their routes, whether travelling by foot, bike, bus, or train anywhere in the county.

The new, free-to-use app is part of a broader effort in response to the Essex Climate Action Commission’s report Net Zero: Making Essex Carbon Neutral, which encourages people to move away from cars and opt for more sustainable travel options.

Beyond local travel, sustainability is also increasingly being recognised in the aviation industry. Specifically, the airline easyJet is demonstrating its remarkable commitment to environmental efforts after receiving top ratings from the Climate Disclosure Project in February 2024. Following rigorous environmental impact assessments, the non-profit organisation acknowledged easyJet’s innovative ways to make sustainable travel not only achievable but, more importantly, accessible among holidaymakers, as outlined below.

Minimising carbon emissions

When it comes to travelling within and outside of Europe, easyJet has built a reputation for its affordability. Through its low-fare finder tool, a broad demographic of holidaymakers with varying budgets can find cheap flights to top destinations for both city breaks and week-long holidays, such as Copenhagen, Munich, and Budapest. It’s also worth noting that travellers not only get to compare flight prices and save money, but they also save the environment in the process through easyJet’s efforts to minimise their carbon footprint.

In light of its participation in the UN-backed Race to Zero campaign, the low-cost carrier has adopted the Descent Profile Optimisation software to optimise its routes and cut fuel consumption. By reducing its environmental impact, easyJet hopes to eventually reach an improvement target of 35% by 2035 and net-zero emissions by 2050.

Investing in fuel-efficient aircraft

Besides route optimisation that lowers fuel consumption by approximately 50kg per flight, easyJet has also made significant investments in fuel-efficient aircraft. After publishing its roadmap to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, easyJet’s Director of Sustainability, Jane Ashton, has talked about how the airline is looking to deploy hydrogen-powered aircraft for airspace modernisation and operational efficiency.

To illustrate, easyJet is partnering with other industry leaders like Airbus, Rolls-Royce, GKN Aerospace, and Cranfield Aerospace Solutions to develop a hydrogen ecosystem and operate short-haul hydrogen flights. These hydrogen technologies are designed to fly passengers on aircraft that don’t create carbon emissions and fulfil the broader goal of decarbonisation in the aviation sector. In the meantime, passengers still have the option to offset their carbon emissions aboard easyJet’s aircraft.

Approaching sustainability holistically

Lastly, easyJet ensures that its sustainability approach is holistic by also considering its onboard environmental impact. Instead of solely focusing on aircraft emissions, the airline has introduced a recycling programme that reduces the amount of single-use plastic across its in-flight service.

After removing 11.5 million items of single-use plastic, easyJet has started providing its EU, Swiss, and British-based crew members with reusable cups and cutlery beginning January 2024. Such products are designed with durable materials to ensure long-term usage and help the carrier meet its overall goal of decreasing its current single-use plastic wastage by 71 tonnes per year.

Overall, easyJet exemplifies how airlines can maintain affordable costs without compromising their efforts to become green and eco-friendly. By keeping airfare for low- to zero-emission flights economical, more and more travellers will be encouraged to take the more sustainable option when planning their holidays.