Saudia working to minimise emissions and promote sustainable flying 

In an effort to improve its environmental performance and promote sustainable flying, Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia), has been investing in a variety of sustainability projects and new environmentally friendly initiatives that aims at minimising emissions and promoting the future of sustainable flying benefitting travellers around the world including Bangladesh.

The Saudi airlines was the first in the world to implement Green Points, a program that rewards passengers for helping to protect the environment, according to a press statement issued on Tuesday (29 August).

Saudia guests can reduce food waste and landfill contributions by pre-selecting their meals during online check-in – which will also reduce the weight of stock on board and save fuel under the programme.

The programme also offers Bangladeshi guests the option to travel with less luggage, which is incentivised by a generous allocation of Green Points. This approach makes a significant contribution towards fuel efficiency.

Saudia has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Lilium, a German-based aerospace company, to buy 100 electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts.

With zero operating emissions, the Lilium Jets will enable sustainable and time-saving travel allowing the national flag-carrier to play its part in the country's sustainable air mobility development strategy.

With this purchase, according to the press statement, Saudia intends to launch a state-of-the-art service with new electric point-to-point connections as well as seamless feeder connections to Saudia's hubs for their Bangladeshi business class guests.

Furthermore, the Saudi airlines has participated at Skyteam's Sustainable Flight Challenge 2023.

Through this, Saudia commits to sharing its sustainable innovations and insights which help reduce its environmental impact while alternative fuel sources are being researched.

In last year's edition, the airlines won the 'best customer engagement' and 'best employee engagement' awards. Saudia was also a finalist in three other categories: 'greatest CO2 reduction medium-haul', 'lowest CO2 emissions ground-handling' and 'best sustainable innovation (in-flight)'.

Meanwhile, Saudia announced the expansion of its fleet with the new A321neo aircraft. Launched under a new slogan 'A neo-way of living', the airline is set to add over 20 new aircraft to the fleet by 2026.

The main reason behind the purchase of the aircraft is its ability to run on much less fuel. The A320 family of aircraft have saved 20 million tons of Co2 since the A320neo came into service globally in 2016.

Saudia CEO Captain Ibrahim Koshy said, "At Saudia, we are continually striving to reduce our environmental impact and to promote sustainable travel, we have implemented a variety of environment-friendly initiatives over the years.

"We have invested in buying fuel-efficient aircrafts such as Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Electrical Vertical Take-off and Landing jets with Lilium, as well as the order of CFM International LEAP-1A engines to power our new fleet of Airbus A321neo."