TUI Travel airlines hit carbon reduction target two years early and increase it by 50%.
LONDON – TUI Travel’s airlines have achieved their carbon reduction target of 6% two years early. This reduction was achieved through a mixture of operational efficiencies, fuel conservation activities, capacity amendments and airline enhancements. The Group has now raised the target to a 9% relative carbon reduction within the original time scale (2008-2014) giving itself only two years to save an additional 3%. This progress is unique in the aviation industry.
TUI Travel PLC, the global leader in the leisure travel market, today launched its latest Sustainable Holidays Report. Following on from the launch of last year’s Sustainable Holidays Plan, this report tracks TUI Travel’s progress in the first year of its ambitious three year Plan. TUI Travel created the Plan to drive sustainability best practice across its global brands, having been a strong advocate for sustainable tourism for more than a decade.
In the report TUI Travel proves that green business is good business after saving £16M during the 2012 financial year through environmental efficiencies. Data released today shows that the leading leisure travel group’s airlines are some of the best in Europe in terms of fuel and carbon efficiency. During 2013 the Group has made significant investments in cutting edge aviation technology such as:
- Receiving its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which is forecast to emit 20% less CO2 per passenger than comparable aircraft today
- The commitment to purchasing 60 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, with improved fuel-efficiency (2018 delivery)
- Investment in the new innovative Split Scimitar Winglets, reducing fuel burn by an additional 2%.
The Sustainable Holidays Plan comprises 20 challenging and measurable commitments, underpinning four over-arching and stretching goals. These are to operate Europe’s most fuel-efficient airlines and reduce carbon on the ground by 20,000 tonnes; to take 10 million customers on ‘greener and fairer’ holidays; and to be considered a leader in sustainable holidays by colleagues and customers.
Peter Long, Chief Executive of TUI Travel PLC outlines, “As a market leader, it is incumbent on us to pioneer sustainability change in the travel sector. Our objective is to deliver special travel experiences designed for our customers’ ever changing needs. Customers trust us to live up to our sustainability vision of minimising environmental impact, respecting culture and people, and bringing economic benefit to communities. In doing so, we improve the quality of their holidays, and help preserve the destinations we all love to visit.”
Highlights of the report include:
- Proving green business is good business, TUI Travel reports £16M* saved through environmental efficiencies in the 2012 financial year
- TUI Travel airlines have achieved their 6% relative carbon efficiency target two years early and have increased the target by 50% to 9% by 2015 (baseline 2008).
- They are committed to becoming Europe’s most fuel-efficient airline, in 2012 89% of TUI Travel’s aircraft were fitted with fuel-saving winglets
- 73g of CO2 emissions per revenue passenger kilometre (RPK) across TUI Travel airlines – making its airlines some of the most fuel-efficient in Europe e.g. TUIfly being awarded most climate-efficient charter airline worldwide by atmosfair
- Over 2m customers staying in hotels with sustainability certifications, an increase of 800,000 in the last year
- TUI Travel featured over 850 hotels which have sustainability certifications in brochures and on websites
- Since the launch of its Plan, the Group has organised more than 20 sustainability supplier workshops attended by 600 hoteliers and other stakeholders, proving how committed it is to sharing the importance of sustainability
- TUI Travel businesses helped contribute over €5m to charities and environmental projects
Jane Ashton, Director of Group Sustainable Development at TUI Travel explains, “Travel and tourism accounts for 9% of the world’s GDP and 6% of its exports. Tourism also accounts for 1 in 11 jobs globally and is the main source of foreign exchange in one-third of developing countries. The leisure travel industry can have both positive and negative impacts on communities and the natural environment – the challenge is how to manage these impacts for the greater good.
In this report we outline TUI Travel’s first year of progress against the 2012-14 Sustainable Holidays Plan. Many of our targets are on track, but some are proving challenging, and in those instances we will re-double our efforts to make further progress by 2015.
Meanwhile the global sustainability challenges remain as pressing as ever – for example, the impacts of eco-system degradation and climate change on the environment and communities in our holiday destinations, and on the holiday experience.”
Supporting Voices from the Sustainable Holidays Report
Stephanie Draper, Director of Systems Innovation at Forum for the Future commented, “TUI Travel continues to raise standards to make sustainability an integral part of their business.
Bringing up minimum standards through their supplier code of conduct and driving projects that address local sustainability impacts in destinations, improves livelihoods, enhances holiday experiences, reduces risk and drives customer loyalty. TUI Travel is helping to shape the context that it operates in to make better sustainability performance possible. It understands that this is a long term journey and reaching its targets won’t be easy, but by reaching out to destinations, customers, colleagues, suppliers and others outside the sector it can begin to bring sustainable holidays to the mainstream”.
Dr Kelly Bricker, Chair of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council adds, “We applaud TUI Travel for its commitment to deliver 10 million ‘greener and fairer’ holidays—and in communicating the work they are doing for the industry. As one of the first companies to commit to working with our recognised standards, we are encouraged to see TUI Travel documenting their sustainability efforts, as well as driving the demand for verified sustainable tourism products. TUI Travel is action oriented and delivers on their commitment to sustainability and the endless possibilities for our future.”
Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive of ABTA said, “TUI Travel has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to sustainability in recent years. They understand that by improving the sustainability of their product they will be creating better holidays for their customers and helping to maintain the quality of the destinations visited. The company has shown how sustainability can be designed into the day to day management and operation of their businesses, and has been an early adopter of many new sustainability tools, such as Travelife and the ABTA Global Animal Welfare guidelines.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
