Air New Zealand took home top honors at the 2013 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, recognising sustainable tourism global best practice. the airline won in the Global Tourism Business category against applicants from 46 countries across all seven continents including finalists Abercrombie & Kent in the U.S. and ITC Hotels in India.
Air New Zealand CEO Christopher Luxon commented, “We take our responsibility to promote sustainability very seriously and continue to shrink our carbon footprint as we work towards our goal of becoming the world’s most environmentally sustainable airline. In fact we’ve reduced our carbon emissions by 15% (142,000 tonnes) over a five year period.
“Alongside this we’ve invested in enhancing some of New Zealand’s most iconic natural assets through our partnership with the Department of Conservation to support biodiversity projects on the Great Walks network. We have also invested in Antarctica New Zealand and the New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute to support important scientific research being conducted on the ice.”
Air New Zealand furthers its sustainability and green brand by providing financial support to environmental projects through the Air New Zealand Environment Trust, a 3,000-person internal Green Team that promotes sustainability at the workplace and at home.
Recently, airlines have been the newest competitors in the scramble for sustainability. Delta, Air France and Southwest have also been lauded for their eco-friendly efforts, and United Continental has recently announced a new sustainable supply chain initiative and a fuel-savings goal for 2013.
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Published Apr 26, 2013 5pm EDT / 2pm PDT / 10pm BST / 11pm CEST