In a good news story for the airline and the environment, Cathay Pacific has announced a pledge to use biofuels made from landfill rubbish.
The next time you throw something away, its new life could be fuelling your upcoming holiday flight.
In a good news story for the airline and the environment, Cathay Pacific has announced a pledge to use biofuels made from landfill rubbish.
The airline aims to cut 80 per cent of the gases that planes emit into the atmosphere, following the city’s push to slowly reduce its contribution to climate change with a goal of halving annual carbon emissions per person by 2030.
Cathay Pacific planes – mainly its trans-Pacific flights from the United States – will use a 50-50 mix of biofuel and conventional fuel by 2019.
The biofuel is produced by a US-based renewable fuel producer, which signed an agreement with the airline in 2014 for 375 million gallons over 10 years.
This amount is sufficient to supply the airline’s 76 weekly flights between the US and Hong Kong for six months.
“Aviation biofuels will play a key role for Cathay and the aviation industry’s quest for lower emissions,” said Jeff Ovens, the airline’s biofuel manager to SCMP. “We are on the cusp of large-scale production of low-carbon jet fuel and are eager to use it.”
Cathay is also planning, among other things, to reduce the weight of the aircraft, fly on more direct flight paths and taxi with just one engine, to negate the high and unpredictable cost of traditional fuel.
As the biofuel investments have been absorbed into the company’s operating cost, passengers are unlikely to see a fare hike. It is too early, however, to tell if the switch could eventually lower ticket prices.
Roy Tam Hoi-pong, CEO of environmental pressure group Green Sense, called Cathay’s climate pledge a “good start” but believes “they can do much more”.