David McNew/Getty Images
READ MORE ABOUT:
Many of us will fly this holiday season. We will spend hundreds of dollars on tickets, stand in long lines at the airports, be delayed for hours in Midwestern cities all to see our family. And flying isn’t even green. You’ll probably feel like some sort of eco-abuser. Guilt will riddle you with itself. There are airlines out there, however, that have been making green advances.
The Ecopreneurist recently ran an article that expounded quality of the greenest airlines. These are the airlines that made the grade.
Continental
This airline was one of Forbes Magazine’s 2007 Continental spent over 16 billion dollars making its fleet more fuel efficient. They employ a full-time staff of environmentalists, use winglets to increase fuel efficiency, recycle chemical waste and design green terminals.
Virgin Atlantic
In addition to cutting back on their own CO2 emissions and making their flight plans as efficient as possible, Virgin Atlantic has partnered with My Climate. Together, they work on carbon offsetting projects in India and Indonesia.
Jet Blue
Jet Blue also has a carbon offsetting program. It allows the passengers to pay a few dollars to offset their trip. They even have a list of green tips on their website. They are also reducing their ecological footprint by eliminating disposable headsets, idling their planes less, shrinking the size of their boarding documents and recycling fuel.
Southwest
Southwest is the world’s most efficient airline. They have paperless tickets, fuel-saving winglets, fleet-wide advanced avionics and pages upon pages of other eco-friendly upgrades. They are the EPA’s Blue Skyways Collaborative Partner and have won several environmental awards since 1995. They save 274 million pounds of CO2 per million flights. They recycle oil and even work to reduce noise.
More on Green Airlines:
Pony Up for Carbon Offsets When You Book Flights Online
Greener Skies for the Airlines?
3 Ways to Fly Green With Eco-Smarter Business Travel
Travel the great outdoors far and near with hip eco-friendly gear and learn the lowest impact ways of getting to your destinations with Planet Green Travel & Outdoors.
