British Airways launches swish new sustainability livery

British Airways has launched a stylish new livery to mark the launch of a sustainability program that gives passengers the option of helping to pay for sustainable aviation fuels. The airline partnered with Airbus to paint an A320neo with the colors used in its new BA Better World program. The program includes a new collaboration with fuel giant bp to purchase enough sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for all flights between London, Glasgow and Edinburgh during the two-week COP 26 conference starting October 31. The SAF, which provides a lifecycle carbon reduction of up to 80 percent, will be blended with traditional fuel to meet current certification requirements. A longer-term move is a new option allowing customers to purchase a combination of the benefit of sustainable aviation fuel and carbon offsets to reduce their carbon footprint. British Airways already offsets the CO2 on domestic flights but customers can do the same for other flights using a carbon offsetting tool. This has allowed them to select traditional carbon offsetting projects such as forestry but now provides a new 10 percent emission reduction option the airline says is achieved by contributing to the cost of SAF supply and supporting new sustainable fuel projects. Both options are audited for the airline by an independent company. “British Airways will not make a profit from any SAF payment received and will ensure that all funds go towards the cost of SAF supply and support for new sustainable fuel projects,’’ BA says on the pureleapfrog website. “SAF is not presently produced in large volumes and many technologies are still under development, so the production costs are much higher than for conventional jet fuel. “By selecting to purchase SAF, you are helping to accelerate the development of this new sustainable avenue for aviation as well as being one of the first in the world to have made their flight carbon neutral using SAF.” The new livery was revealed Tuesday at BA’s Heathrow engineering base and the airline said the collaboration with bp was part of a long-term commitment to meet 10 percent of its fuel needs with SAFs by 2030.

The airline’s parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG), is investing $US400m over the next 20 years into the development of SAF. British Airways is forming partnerships with a number of technology and fuel companies to develop SAF plants and purchase the fuel, including with Velocys in the UK and LanzaJet in the US. "We’re clear that we have a responsibility to reduce our impact on the planet and have a detailed plan to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, including investing in more fuel-efficient aircraft, improving our operational efficiency and investing in the development of sustainable aviation fuel and zero-emissions aircraft,’’ BA chief executive Sean Doyle said. The airline also used the launch to showcase sustainability programs such as renewably powered electric pushback vehicles and removing weight from its aircraft with initiatives such as lighter seats and trollies.