Air Transat has become the first airline to be certified green by the World Green Aviation Council. The certification, Fly-360-Green™, consists of a comprehensive system for rating the design, innovation and operation of highly sustainable airlines and airports.
“We are extremely proud to have obtained this certification,” said Allen B. Graham, President and CEO, Air Transat. “Our airline has implemented a great many measures and programs geared toward environmental protection and sustainable development, including a fuel management program to lower CO2 emissions. Over the past few years, we have adopted measures to save water and energy, promote recycling and reduce waste. And we are continuing our group effort with employees to keep on improving our environmental performance.”
The World Green Aviation Council’s Fly-360-Green certification is intended to provide the airline industry and airports with a concise framework for identifying and implementing collaborative and measurable green aviation designs, innovations, and operations solutions.
Using the 55 different environmental initiatives in the three main categories found in the Airline Environmental Management Framework (Daily Operational Activities, Corporate Environmental Management Practices, and Corporate Policies/Strategic Planning), airlines and airports can qualify one of for three certification levels: A class (over 110 points), B-class (100–109 points) and C-class (90–99 points) for airlines; and A-class (over 60 points), B-class (50–59 points) and C-class (40–49 points) for airports.
The World Green Aviation Council consists of member airlines and airports from around the globe dedicated to a simple mission: foster an international standard for sustainable aviation through cutting-edge technological advancements, while also taking into consideration aviation's absolute emissions, which are constantly on the rise despite various pro-environmental actions taken by stakeholders.
Air Transat is Canada’s leading holiday travel airline. Every year, it carries some 3 million passengers to nearly 60 destinations in 25 countries aboard its fleet of Airbus wide-body jets. The company employs approximately 2,000 people. Air Transat is a business unit of Transat A.T. Inc., an integrated international tour operator with more than 60 destination countries and that distributes products in over 50 countries.
Air Transat is a business unit of Transat, one of the world’s leading tour operators, which implemented a wide-ranging sustainable development program in 2007 (see www.resp.transat.com).
In December 2011, Air Transat was awarded Level 3 certification by the Quebec government’s ICI ON RECYCLE! program for its environmental protection efforts and exemplary waste management practices.
In April 2011, the building that houses Air Transat’s headquarters became the first in Canada to be awarded LEED-EB® Platinum certification. The three-storey structure, with some 60,000 square feet of floor space, obtained U.S. Green Building Council LEED Platinum certification in the Existing Buildings category. The building, constructed in 2004 on the Montréal–Trudeau airport site, was the first in its category in Canada to be granted that level of certification, emblematic of compliance with the most stringent of sustainable development criteria.
In March 2011, German NGO atmosfair ranked Air Transat number one in the world in the long-haul category on its newly developed environmental performance index, dubbed the “atmosfair Airline Index.” The carrier also ranked third overall in the index, which rates the 100 largest international airlines.
In 2003, Air Transat developed and began implementing a rigorous fuel management and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction program. The carrier sets itself apart by systematically applying and refining measures involving flight operations, flight planning, ground operations, engineering and catering services. Flight plan optimization, dynamic management of aircraft weight and centre of gravity, use of idle reverse thrust after landing, frequent engine washing and single-engine taxiing are just a few of the measures applied.