Summary
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines won the Best Adoption award for implementing sustainable solutions that other airlines can use, while also improving their very own sustainability efforts.
- The Sustainable Flight Challenge is an annual competition between airlines to enhance sustainability, with this 12 months’s challenge leading to a 19% reduction in CO2 emissions in comparison with the previous month.
- Other award winners include Kenya Airways for Best Innovation, Air France for Best Collaboration, TAROM for Lowest CO2 Emissions, China Eastern for Biggest CO2 Reduction, KLH Cityhopper for Best In-Flight Waste Management, and Air Europa for Lowest CO2 Emissions for Ground Operations.
On October 4, SkyTeam announced the assorted winners of the Sustainable Flight Challenge for 2023. The challenge, established to spark recent innovation for airlines internationally, announced the winners of 25 subcategories on the Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta, Georgia. SkyTeam also announced the winners of six other award winners.
Best Adoption award
The winner of the Best Adoption award was KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. The airline, the Netherlands’ flag carrier, was the recipient of the award since it impressed the Sustainable Flight Challenge judges by implementing essentially the most sustainable solutions that were picked up by other airlines. In keeping with the Sustainable Flight Challenge, KLM consistently uploaded its various solutions to the SkyTeam platform. This allowed other airlines to implement these solutions in their very own sustainability efforts. The recipient is also chosen for having a submission with essentially the most potential to scale at a high level.
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KLM revealed that along with continuing its ideas from the previous 12 months’s challenges, the airline would also implement two other major innovations. The airline worked with its fuel supplier to enhance its sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). This helped cut down on carbon dioxide emissions throughout its fleet. The airline also began implementing different meals on its longer flights. The chosen meals were specific to reducing the environmental and food chain impact.
KLM also adds 1% sustainable aviation fuel to the fuel system at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport (AMS). The fuel system is used for all departing flights. The airline also has a history of investing in fleet renewal, recycling, and noise reduction.
Sustainable Flight Challenge
The challenge is an annual competition between airlines internationally to enhance sustainability efforts. The competition, initiated by SkyTeam, began last 12 months. This 12 months’s challenge had 22 airlines competing over 72 flights. The competing airlines also submitted over 350 recent revolutionary ideas to assist sustainable efforts across the industry. The Chief Executive Officer of SkyTeam, Patrick Roux, spoke about this 12 months’s challenge, saying,
“Alliances were built on cooperation and SkyTeam’s Sustainable Flight Challenge demonstrates how working together beyond the standard realms of network and customer support can assist reduce aviation’s impact. The participating airlines have sparked a whole lot of latest solutions and ways of working which have the potential to bring about positive motion and drive wider industry change while we await game-changing technology and greater availability of sustainable aviation fuels.”
This 12 months’s Sustainable Flight Challenge has resulted in an estimated reduction of CO2 by 19% in comparison with flights operating within the previous month. The challenge awards a complete of seven awards and 25 subcategories, that are decided by a various panel of international aviation and sustainability experts.
Other award winners
Along with the Best Adoption, the Sustainable Flight Challenge awarded six other awards. Kenya Airways was awarded Best Innovation for its work in establishing the SAF supply chain throughout Africa. The Best Collaboration award was given to Air France for its work on the Holistic & Green Airports (OLGA) project. TAROM recorded the Lowest CO2 Emissions, because of a high payload factor for its Bucharest-Madrid route.
Photo: Abdul N Quraishi – Abs | Shutterstock
Moreover, China Eastern achieved the Biggest CO2 Reduction by increasing its payload fraction on all of its short-haul and medium-haul flights. The Best In-Flight Waste Management award was given to KLH Cityhopper. The airline successfully reduced the waste on its challenge-operated flights to only 12 kilograms (26.5 kilos) for the 192 passengers onboard. The last award, which was the Lowest CO2 Emissions for Ground Operations, was given to Air Europa. The airline achieved this by heavily utilizing electric ground equipment.