As part of a recent business trip, I flew Delta Airlines. Flying is rife with environmental concerns, but it’s not going away. Here’s what Delta has done to green their practices:
-
In-flight recycling: To date, Delta has recycled more than 7 million pounds of aluminum, plastic, and paper products onboard that would have otherwise been taken to a landfill. (While collecting trash on my flight, the flight attendant kept the cups stacked in his hand, not it the trash bag).
Since the 1970s, the industry has steadily improved by pursuing more fuel-efficient aircraft-most modern planes use approximately 40 percent less fuel than their earlier counterparts.
Some notable achievements include a 1.7% average annual efficiency improvement from 2009 to 2012, exceeding the International Air Transportation Association’s fuel-efficiency goal of 1.5% annual improvement.
In addition, Delta has reduced their annual aircraft greenhouse gas emissions by 8.4 million metric tons from 2005 to 2012, an 18.5% reduction – and the equivalent of removing 1.7 million cars from the road for a year. Delta also reduced aircraft emissions by 868,040 metric tons in the last year alone – equivalent to eliminating the annual emissions of five Boeing 747-400s, the biggest aircraft in our fleet.
Between 2009 and 2012, Delta used 2.8% less fuel while carrying 2.5% more revenue tonne kilometers, which is basically the weight of passengers, cargo and mail multiplied by distance flown.
* All facts come from the April 2013 Sky Magazine
