4. RESEARCH RESULTS
4.1 Sustainability Reports
4.1.1 Finnair
Finnair’s company policy includes a plan for continuous improvement regarding environmental sustainability practices and cleaner, eco-friendly operations. In Finnair’s sustainability report for 2018, the company identifies four key environmental aspects that they focus on: emissions from the use of jet fuel, flight noise, energy consumption of properties and cabin waste. Finnair has analyzed the impacts, opportunities and threats related to these key aspects, as well as created targets to improve them. (Finnair, 2018) Mainly due to increased flight traffic and operational challenges, Finnair’s CO₂ emissions from flight operations in 2018 increased by 11.7% since the previous year, as well as available ton-kilometers increased by 13% over the same timeframe. As one way to combat the increasing emissions, Finnair conducted a customer survey to find out about the attitudes of Finns regarding the different ways of compensating or reducing the different emissions caused by their air travel. They found out that most Finns would be willing to pay to compensate for the environmental damage caused by their flights, as long as the profits from such compensation payments go straight to environmental work.
Hence, in early 2019 Finnair launched an option for its customers to choose between supporting the use of biofuels and carbon capture initiatives when they fly with Finnair.
(Finnair, 2018)
To further improve the jet fuel efficiency of its operations, Finnair further renewed its fleet and introduced the next-generation Airbus A350 XWB aircraft, bringing the number of these aircraft in Finnair’s fleet to 12 by the end of 2018. These aircraft are 20–25 per cent more fuel-efficient than their predecessors. This renewal also reduces noise pollution, as the fleet is quieter than the older versions. To further minimize disturbance caused by flight noise, Finnair has schedules most of its arrivals and departures at less undesirable times in terms of noise pollution. The company also uses the continuous descent approach (CDA), which helps reduce flight noise within 10 kilometers of the airport. However, this technology requires favorable weather conditions and
uncongested airspace, which often are not achievable at the busy Helsinki-Vantaa airport. (Finnair, 2018)
The energy consumption of Finnair facilities decreased by 5.6% in 2018. This was the first full year when the Cool Cargo terminal could enjoy energy generated by the solar panels installed on it. Finnair is part of a nation-wide service sector’s energy efficiency agreement, which requires the company to decrease its properties’ energy consumption by 7% from the 2016 level by 2025. (Finnair, 2018)
The amount of waste created by Finnair increased by 9.4% from previous year, mainly due to increase in traffic. Finnair has set objectives to increase waste recovery, cost efficiency and safety, and to reduce the volume of waste. The goal is to utilize waste as energy or material. In addition to this, Finnair places special concern over cabin waste.
The company is actively improving its plastic recycling, reducing the amount of single use plastics used and by introducing responsible decision making in inflight services by 2022. The company has started serving carton-packed Finnish milk on its domestic and European flights and removing plastic packaging from renewed amenity kits. Together these actions reduce waste by five tons and plastic waste by ten tons annually. (Finnair, 2018)
4.1.2 Lufthansa Group
According to Lufthansa Group’s Balance 2019 Sustainability Report, the group has four core areas of focus when it comes to environmental responsibility: environmental management, fuel consumption and emissions, energy and resource management, as well as active noise abatement. The group aims to respond to the increasing demand for air travel with environmentally friendly products, and to continuously increase the eco-efficiency of its operations. (Lufthansa Group, 2019)
When it comes to environmental management systems, Lufthansa Group is working on expanding its application of these systems according to ISO14001 or EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) at the group airlines. In 1999, Lufthansa CityLine was the first airline in the industry to create a professional environmental management system and to be EMAS-approved in year 2000. CityLine is also certified by the international environmental standard ISO 14001. The environmental management system at the Munich location of Deutsche Lufthansa AG received the previously
mentioned certifications in 2019, and the airline is now planning on extending this certified management system to other locations as well. (Lufthansa Group, 2019) Regarding fuel consumption and emissions, the CO₂ emissions of the Lufthansa Group increased by 6.6% in 2019 compared to the previous year. To battle the increasing emissions and harm to the environment, the group is taking action in four main categories, as formed at the 2007 IATA Assembly in the aviation industry’s climate protection strategy: technological progress, improved infrastructure, operational measures and economic measures. (Lufthansa Group, 2019)
According to Balance Sustainability Report 2019, to reach technological progress, Lufthansa Group is investing in new, eco-friendly and fuel-efficient fleet and engine technologies. In addition to this, the group is also involved in the research and testing of alternative fuels. (Lufthansa Group, 2019) Regarding improved infrastructure, a significant and important goal is to reach better use of air space. The group strongly supports and works for the Single European Sky initiative, which aims at creating a unified air space above Europe, so that airlines could fly the most optimal routes and hence significantly reduce their CO₂ emissions. Lufthansa Group believes the work of air traffic controllers could be significantly facilitated, if the operating systems became more virtual and digital. Besides this, needs-based airport infrastructures will facilitate more efficient flight operations and consequently enhance the technological process of the climate protection strategy. The Lufthansa Group works in this area to implement systematically linked air, rail and road traffic venues. (Lufthansa Group, 2019)
In addition to the two categories mentioned above, operational measures form a vital role in achieving ideal climate protection measures. Important parts of this category are optimal aircraft sizes, as well as optimal flight routes and speeds. Optimized processes on the ground can also contribute to large cost-savings and decrease the environmental burden caused by air traffic operations. For example, Lufthansa Cargo is conducting experiments on the use of more light-weight palettes for freight storage. (Lufthansa Group, 2019)
The final category in the climate protection measure program is economic measures.
This is virtually an international, market-based system designed to reduce emissions to complement the other three categories. One part of this is the agreement on climate protection- CORSIA, adopted in October 2016. According to this agreement, airlines must compensate for growth-related CO₂ emissions in international civil aviation from
2021 onwards. The compensation is to be made from CO₂ savings gained from climate protection projects. Another significant part of the economic measures is voluntary CO₂ compensation. Lufthansa and SWISS are currently offering the majority of their customers the option to offset their CO₂ emissions by having them calculated online, and then making a corresponding donation to their climate protection project of choice.
(Lufthansa Group, 2019)
Continuing with Lufthansa Group’s four core areas of environmental responsibility, the third one is energy and resource management. The group’s target is to have completely CO₂-neutral ground operations in its home markets, namely Austria, Germany and Switzerland, by the year 2030. To reach this goal, Lufthansa Group will be utilizing electric and other emissions-free propulsion systems in its vehicles, maximize the use of electricity from 100% renewable sources and use this renewable energy to power as many Lufthansa Group buildings, as possible. (Lufthansa Group, 2019) In addition to this major target, the group is also taking initiative in other areas of energy and resource management. One example is the Flygreener initiative, which involves product and cabin waste management, the LSG group and airports. The Lufthansa Group is also actively reducing the amount of single-use plastic in its catering and avoiding including superfluous catering items on flights at all. (Lufthansa Group, 2019)
The fourth and final core area of environmental responsibility for the Lufthansa Group is active noise abatement. This core area is divided into five sub-categories, namely investments in quieter aircraft, noise-reducing technologies for the existing fleet, participation in noise-research, optimization of approach and departure procedures, and finally, dialogue with residents near airports and other stakeholders. (Lufthansa Group, 2019).
To address issues related to reducing the noise-levels of its fleet, the Lufthansa group is removing the older model aircrafts from operation and including a new generation of fleet, such as the Airbus A350-900 and Airbus A320neo. To improve the noise-levels of the already existing fleet, the group is introducing noise-reducing vortex generators.
(Lufthansa Group, 2019) The Lufthansa Group is also taking active part in noise research, meaning they are collaborating with industry and research partners in developing and analyzing new measures in the field. The use of new navigation technologies, new method development and testing as well as co-operating with system partners are ways that the group is optimizing it departure and approach procedures.
The Lufthansa Group is also in continuous exchange with residents of airport areas, who
are affected by noise pollution. This communication happens through dialogue forums, in large part. (Lufthansa Group, 2019)
4.1.3 Air France-KLM Group
In their sustainability report for 2018, Air France-KLM Group Takes Care, the group identifies six main pillars in their climate action plan, which it is focusing its environmental sustainability efforts in. The first pillar includes plans to contribute to aeronautical research and to engage in fleet modernization, whereas the second pillar focuses on initiating operational measure, such as route optimization. The third pillar engages in the usage and development of sustainable aviation fuel, and the fourth pillar relates to informing customers on the CO₂ emissions caused by their air travel and offering the possibility to offset these. The fifth pillar consists of plans of supporting the implementation of CORSIA, an international, industry-wide climate agreement. Finally, the sixth pillar relates to supporting environmental programs carried out by non-governmental organizations. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018)
In order to decrease their environmental footprint and emissions, both Air France and KML are actively renewing and modernizing their fleet. This also contributes to energy savings. Regarding the Climate Action Plan’s Pillar One, Air France removed older generation aircrafts from both its long-haul and medium-haul fleet and replaced these with new planes in 2018. In addition, seven ATR42/72-500s were retired from the fleet and replaced with the first of seven new Embraer 190s. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018) KLM Cityhopper included five new Embraer 175s and two new Embraer 190s. KLM also reinforced the B787-9 fleet with three units. In addition to these changes, the modernization of the fleet will continue with the introduction of fuel-efficient fleet, such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus 350. Besides this, the continuous retirement of existing fleet, such as the Air France Airbus 340 and the KLM Boeing 747, will be taking place. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018)
Regarding the second pillar on implementing operational measures, the Air France-KLM Group is taking action on weight reduction and route optimization, for example. At Air France, some examples of weight reduction measures include the controlling of the weight of items taken onboard. The impact of the Air France Magazine was reduced, as well as meal trays and crockery. The amount of needed drinking water taken on board
France-KLM Group, 2018) At KLM, similar efforts on reducing onboard- item weight resulted in C0₂ reductions of 4,000 tons in 2018. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018) Route optimization, by opening new spaces and passing of free routes has enabled the Air France-KLM group to achieve additional deductions on emissions. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018)
In relation to the third pillar, which engages itself with the development and usage of sustainable aviation fuel, the Air France-KLM Group is taking action to reach its CO₂ emission reduction targets. In the year 2018, KLM and its corporate bio-fuel partners used a combined amount of 1,300 tons of bio-kerosene. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018) Air France, on the other hand, took part in Green Deal, which promotes the surfacing of aviation bio-fuel industries, in economically feasible conditions and in full integration of the principles of circular economy. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018)
In line with the fourth pillar, in order to offer their customers the possibility of off-setting their CO₂ emissions, Air France and KLM include CO₂ calculators on their website.
Customers can use these calculators to calculate the amount of emissions caused by their travel, based on the length of the flight, and the fuel-efficiency data of the aircraft.
Passengers can then offset their emissions by donating to environmental causes, such as A Tree for You and CO₂ reduction projects certified by Gold Standard. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018)
Looking more closely at the fifth pillar that involves plans regarding the CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) agreement, The Air France-KLM Group strongly support the cause together with other IATA airlines. The group takes part in structuring the implementation plan for the agreement. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018) CORSIA aims at carbon-neutral growth by restricting CO₂ emission levels from international aviation. In preparation for launching the CORSIA agreement into action, Air France, KLM and other member airlines started calculating their CO₂ emissions for reference data purposes on January 1st, 2019. These emissions are calculated from international flights, and all aviation operators globally are expected to turn in their data.
This data is collected to create the average emissions statistics for years 2019 and 2020.
The first phase of CORSIA is expected to begin in 2021. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018) The sixth and final pillar includes the co-operation and supporting of plans to protect the environment together with non-governmental organizations (NGO). The Air France-KLM group works closely together with varying NGOs on different projects. One example is
the collaboration of Air France, the NGO EtcTerra, the Madagascan State and public sector landing agencies. Air France takes part in this collaboration by contributing to the Holistic Forestry Conservation Program (HFCP), located on Madagascar. This program supports a REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) project. (Air France-KLM Group, 2018) The HFCP program was launched in 2008, and ten years later in 2018, it was rewarded a carbon certification, which was one of its targets. Profits from related carbon credit sales will be directed to support the financing of the third phase of the program. This phase ensures a long-term sustainability for the project, offering support for local communities working on conserving their environment.
(Air France-KLM Group, 2018)
Summary tables of the CER target areas and actions of the aviation entities can be found in appendix 1.-4.
Summary tables and graphs of results from the social media CER-marketing communications observation can be found in appendix 5.-12.
The following section contains more detailed information on the Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts of the studied aviation entities, as well as the most significant examples of the data collected from these platforms.
4.2 Finnair
4.2.1 Finnair on Twitter
At the time of the observation, Finnair’s Twitter account had 102 000 followers and 19 000 tweets. (Finnair Twitter, 2019) During the period of May 20th until September 20th,
2019, Finnair posted a total of 159 tweets, out of which 15 were CER-related. Two of these posts were re-tweets. (Finnair Twitter, 2019) This equals to 9.4% of Finnair’s Twitter posts being CER-related for the time frame.
Finnair tweeted three times about environmental issues in their short-video series “Small things matter”. The topics included onboard item weight and their impact on emissions, as well as local supplier ethical standards. Picture 1. below shows an example of such post.
All screenshots: (Finnair Twitter, 2019)
Picture 1. Finnair Twitter.
Keywords: weight, emissions, sustainability, carbon emissions
Finnair tweeted about cabin-related CER-measures five times. The main themes in these tweets are the decreased amount of plastic packaging in in travel kits and onboard meal and other food options, as well as the improved sustainability with recycled and bioplastics. (Finnair Twitter, 2019) Pictures 2. and 3. are examples of such posts.
Picture 2. Finnair Twitter.
Keywords: environment, fuel, recycle, plastic, weight, emissions
Picture 3. Finnair Twitter.
Keywords: sustainability, recycled plastic, bioplastic, on-demand concept
Imagery: re-usable and durable cabin items
Finnair also posted about fuel and emissions savings in several tweets, as well as twice about their bio-fuel usage. Pictures 4. and 5. show examples of posts regarding these matters.
Picture 4. Finnair Twitter.
Keywords: fuel savings, emissions and noise reduction
Picture 5. Finnair Twitter.
Keywords: biofuel, CO₂ emissions
In addition, the company posted employee-focused tweets regarding sustainability.
These included the recruitment of a new Sustainability leader, as shown in Picture 6., and a short video of Finnair Fuel Efficiency Manager Hanna Salmi talking about her profession, Picture 7.
Picture 6. Finnair Twitter.
Keywords: sustainability
Picture 7. Finnair Twitter.
Keywords: energy consumption, fuel efficiency, fuel consumption, CO₂ emissions, weight, carbon footprint
4.2.2 Finnair’s Facebook Page
At the time of the observation, Finnair’s Facebook account had 639,366 likes and 643,447 followers. (Finnair, 2019) During the four-month time period from May 20th until September 20th, 2019, Finnair posted 59 times, and out of these posts, two were CER-related. This equals to 3.4% of the company’s posts being CER-CER-related. The first post in Picture 8., a link to Finnair’s Blue Wings magazine discussing plastic use in the travel industry, is from July 10th. The second post in picture 9., published on July 26th, is also a link to Blue Wings magazine article. This article discusses the new travel kit with reduced amount of plastic for economy comfort customers. (Finnair, 2019) Both these posts could also be found on Finnair’s Twitter account.
All screenshots: (Finnair, 2019)
Picture 8. Finnair Facebook.
Keywords: single-use plastics, plastic Imagery: plastics bags
Picture 9. Finnair Facebook.
Keywords: plastics
4.2.3 Finnair’s Instagram Account
At the time of conducting the observation, Finnair’s Instagram account “feelfinnair”
had 203,000 followers and 1,401 posts. (Finnair, 2019) During the time period of March 20th until September 20th, 2019, Finnair posted 135 times, and two of these posts were CER-related. This equals to 1.4% of the posts being related to CER in some way. The first post’s caption (Picture 10.) mentions Finnair Kitchen’s recycling program and how they recycle transparent food package plastics. The second post mentions Finnair’s new fleet and their improved fuel efficiency (Picture 11.). (Finnair, 2019)
All screenshots: (Finnair, 2019)
Picture 10. Finnair Instagram.
Keywords: plastic, recycling Imagery: plastic food packaging
Picture 11. Finnair Instagram.
Keywords: fuel-efficient