The Greening of Aviation

Sep 12, 2007 10:59 AM, Michele Markarian

How One Charter Broker (and her Clients) Are Working to Protect the Environment

Green aviation is a growing concern in the aviation industry – if you’ve recently looked at www.aviationweek.com, you’ll see there’s a Green Aviation forum in Brussels, Belgium, this week. One US broker is actively working to make a difference. By partnering with The Conservation Fund, Catherine Smith of World Class Charters in Danville, California is giving her clients the chance to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from their charter flights with a carefully calculated donation based on aircraft type, fuel burn and flight time.

Catherine first heard of The Conservation Fund through Delta Airlines, who had announced their partnership with The Conservation Fund. This partnership would allow passengers of commercial flights purchasing tickets online the option of making a small donation, which would be used to plant trees in protected areas throughout the US. The trees help absorb carbon dioxide, filter water and restore wildlife habitat. Catherine liked the idea, and called The Conservation Fund to see if they had ever partnered with a private aviation company. Although they hadn’t, they were willing and ready.

Catherine referenced information from consulting firm Conklin and deDecker, to get the fuel burn for each type of aircraft she worked with. After that, they calculated the amount of carbon that would be emitted on an hourly basis for each aircraft. Then they determined how many trees would need to be planted to offset the carbon. An hourly price was set for each aircraft to cover the cost of trees, which would be multiplied by the flight hours to determine the donation amount. 100% of the donation would go into the planting of trees in protected areas throughout the United States. The newly planted forests will help absorb carbon dioxide, filter water, restore wildlife habitat and enhance public recreation areas.

Catherine says that so far, the response among her clients has been positive. “Our customers are high-level executives of Fortune 500 corporations, politicians and entertainers who are well-educated world travelers concerned about global issues. World Class Charters is committed to providing them with an opportunity to support environmental stewardship. We are proud to be the first aviation charter broker in the world to work with The Conservation Fund to offer a program that enables customers to help promote positive global environmental change through carbon offsets of their flights.”

For more information on this program, please call Catherine Smith of World Class Charters at 925-838-4950. For more information on The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero^SM program contact: Jena Thompson (954) 456-4055 or email jthompson@conservationfund.org

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