Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) and its sister carriers within the Lufthansa Group are launching a new trial ‘Green Fare’ today for customers travelling from Denmark, Sweden or Norway. As a further element in SWISS’s endeavours to ensure sustainable air travel, the new Green Fare includes a full offset of the carbon dioxide emissions generated by the customer’s flight – 20 per cent through a corresponding purchase of sustainable aviation fuel and 80 per cent via investments in long-term climate protection projects. The Green Fare also earns customers additional Miles & More status and award miles, and further permits rebookings free of charge.
The new Green Fare is offered alongside the further fare options available – Light, Classic or Flex – in the booking process. Green Fares can be booked as of today via swiss.com for flights from Denmark, Sweden or Norway to European destinations, and are available for both Economy and Business Class travel. SWISS’s B2B travel partners in Scandinavia will also be able to make use of the new Green Fare option from this autumn onwards. The trial phase of the new Green Fares will extend for around six months.
“At SWISS we’ve set ourselves ambitious climate care objectives,” explains Chief Commercial Officer Tamur Goudarzi Pour. “We aim to reduce our net carbon dioxide emissions to zero by 2050. And among other actions, innovative and attractive offers like the new Green Fares that we are now introducing in selected test markets will be a key means of achieving this.”
Integration into booking process raises popularity
SWISS integrated its existing carbon-neutral air travel option directly into its flight booking process at the end of May, making it substantially easier for customers to offset their planned flights’ carbon dioxide emissions by purchasing sustainable aviation fuel and/or investing in the climate protection projects of the Swiss-based myclimate foundation. Customers’ use of this option has increased tenfold in the wake of the simplification: while just under one percent of customers that booked via swiss.com took advantage of it before, some ten percent are now using the facility to offset the carbon dioxide emissions generated by their air travel. “We are really pleased that, with this small but significant step, we have helped tangibly raise our customers’ willingness to invest in sustainable air travel,” says Goudarzi Pour. “And we are making the most of this extremely encouraging trend to invest further in sustainable products and services.”
Carbon offsetting also possible on board
SWISS conducted a further trial on the sustainable flying front for two months this spring, when it offered the guests on all its Boeing 777 and Airbus A330 long-haul services the option of making their flight carbon-neutral directly on board. The trial proved a success. And, as a result, the new on-board carbon offset option remains available on these aircraft, and will also be extended to SWISS’s Airbus A340 services in the course of this year. The option is offered within SWISS’s inflight entertainment system on the aircraft concerned.
SWISS continues to pursue a wide range of innovative actions together with the Lufthansa Group to achieve its ambitious objectives of halving its net carbon dioxide emissions from their 2019 level by 2030 and making its operations entirely carbon-neutral by 2050. In addition to investing in an advanced aircraft fleet, adopting new technologies, optimizing operational efficiency and using sustainable aviation fuels, developing and offering innovative air travel products is a key component in all these endeavours.
