Air Berlin wins award

BANGKOK 27 September 2011 – Air Berlin has gained an ÖkoGlobe award for its “Eco-efficient Flying” programme under the category “vehicle innovations in public transport”.

It is the first airline to receive the award that recognises efforts to improve the environment, as well as pioneering innovations and promoting sustainable mobility.

The “Eco-efficient Flying” programme includes a catalogue of measures relating to technology and flight operations as well as operations and controls introduced to save fuel and avoid environmentally harmful emissions.

The catalogue of measures is the result of inter-departmental coordination at Air Berlin, which was implemented in 2008 and is now a on-going feature.

One example of emission control is its weight reduction on board Air Berlin aircraft. Lighter seats, paperless cockpit, trolleys made of lighter aluminum and new carpets have saved 5,000 tonnes of aviation fuel.

Air crew will continue to be trained in flying procedures designed to reduce both pollution and noise.

Fleet modernisation represents the most significant contribution to Air Berlin’s improved environmental balance sheet.

In 2010 the last Boeing 737-300s, 757s and 767s were retired from the fleet. The airline had managed to increase emissions savings from 34,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide in the previous year to 45,700 tonnes, which corresponds to the pollution emitted by an Airbus A330 on more than 300 flights from Düsseldorf to New York.