Flair Airlines releases report on sustainability, environmental initiatives
Edmonton-based Flair Airlines released a report Wednesday that included environmental, efficiency and sustainability initiatives, some it hopes to share across the aviation industry.
The Environmental, Social and Governance Report highlighted sustainability goals Flair is working toward.
"As Canada's only ultra low-cost carrier, our mission has always been to provide affordable travel to Canadians," said Stephen Jones, the CEO of Flair Airlines. "Our dedication to sustainability has been an integral part of that mission from the beginning."
"We're reducing our carbon footprint through choosing better, collaborating with our supply chain and operating with less," said Amanda Mesluk, the senior manager of sustainability at Flair.
"On average, we're about 30 per cent less carbon emissions per flight than other traditional carriers."
Flair is also working on initiatives to recycle plastics to reduce the amount of waste coming off of planes.
In 2023, the company focused on reducing single-use plastics and plans to expand its sustainable cabin initiative. This included replacing plastic cutlery and cups with recycled paper and compostable products.
"Those processes and standard operating procedures that are designed with our airport partners will be shared with aviation as a whole," Mesluk said. "As simple as it seems, there's been challenges in this space and there continues to be challenges for domestic waste.
"In domestic arrivals, not all airports have the infrastructure to support recycling of in-cabin waste, as well as the waste haulers; those contracts haven't been set up."
In support of sustainable aviation fuels, the Canadian government announced $500 million per year to support biofuel production in the 2024 Budget.
"Sustainable aviation fuels play a really important part in the future of the aviation industry," Jones said. "There are lots of challenges with sustainable aviation fuels, the challenges of the economics are one of the primary ones, but there's also challenges around distribution logistics, getting it through the supply chain to all of the points where we pick up fuel for the aircraft.
"It's great to see that the government is playing its part in that as well."
In 2023, Flair created 8,000 jobs and expanded its bases of operations, according to Mesluk.
In March, data from aviation analytics company Circum showed there were around 600 fewer Flair flights scheduled in March, April and May this year, versus the same months in 2023.
"Overall capacity, as measured by the industry-standard metric Available Seat Miles (ASM), is up by four per cent compared to the same March to May period last year,” Jones said in a statement in March.
“Over 70 per cent of ASMs this past winter season were deployed to warm-weather destinations. These routes are typically longer than domestic routes, so we are operating further but slightly fewer flights."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW Is there a cost to convenience? Canada approves new cancer immunotherapy treatment
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Canada's new dental program offering hope of free care to millions but many dentists aren't signed up
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
King Charles III returns to public duties with a trip to a cancer charity
King Charles III returned to public duties on Tuesday, visiting a cancer treatment charity and beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch's own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
NDP says Ottawa's new grocery task force isn't living up to government promises
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.
A group of Toronto tenants have been on a rent strike for a year and say there's no resolution in sight
Dozens of tenants in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park area have now been withholding their rent for one year, and it’s unclear when the dispute will end.
U.K. police arrest man wielding a sword in east London, 5 people are taken to the hospital
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and two police officers on Tuesday in the east London community of Hainault before being arrested, police said.
Archeologists search for remnants of Halifax's 250-year-old wall that surrounded the city
Archeologist Jonathan Fowler is using ground-penetrating radar to search for historic evidence of the massive wall that surrounded Halifax more than 250 years ago.