World’s 30 Most Eco Friendly Airlines

Although Corona is the single dominating topic in the aviation world at the moment, the aspect of sustainability hasn’t vanished. On the contrary, eco friendly operations will be critical for every airline in the next decades. Moreover, in the long-run sustainability will —certainly— have a bigger impact on the aviation industry the COVID-19.

That’s why it was good to see that many airlines —at least before Corona— have started to take the topic of sustainability seriously. On top of that, many airlines invested immense sums in becoming more eco friendly. New aircraft, more fuel-efficient engines, or efficient process are just a few examples of initiatives.

But what are the results? And which airlines have done good so far and which need to do some homework? Since we work closely with airlines in performance monitoring and fuel efficiency, we were curious to know the details.

That’s why we went through many reports that rate airlines, according to eco-friendliness. After analyzing many of them, we believe that atmosfair provides the most comprehensive and reliable information about eco-friendly airlines.

How atmosfair Rates Eco Friendly Airlines

The atmosfair Airline Index compares and ranks the carbon efficiency of the 200 largest airlines of the world. The formula contains every flight the aircraft type, engines, winglets, seating and freight capacity, and load factors for both passengers and co-loaded freight. 

World’s 30 Most Eco Friendly Airlines — Highlights

In case you don’t have time to go through the entire list, here are the essential aspects of the 2018 report.

European Airlines Are The Most Eco Friendly

It seems that European airlines take the topic of sustainability super seriously. Three out of the top five eco friendly airlines are based in Europe. On top of that, when we take a look at the top ten, we find seven European airlines among the most eco friendly airlines. And when taking a look at the top 30, you will recognize that European airlines account for 33%. I’d say: Well done!

China Surprises — Positively

I want to very honest. When I started collecting the data, I didn’t expect to find many carriers from China among the top 30 most eco friendly airlines. If you are from China and reading this right now, I genuinely apologize for my prejudice because the opposite is the case. Not only that, a Chinese airline is ranked 3rd (China West Air); we can also find seven Chinese carriers among the list of top 30 most eco friendly airlines.

US & North American Airlines Badly Disappoint

Actually, a result that was even more surprising than to see so many Chinese airlines. I definitely expected to see —at least— many airlines from North America in the list of the 30 most eco friendly airlines. Certainly more than from China, Asia, or South America. However, only three airlines, one from the US and one from Canada, made it to the top 30. So, there’s definitely room for improvement!

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World’s 30 Most Eco Friendly Airlines — The Detailed List According To Atmosfair 2018

Long story short. Here’s the complete list of the leading airlines when it comes to sustainability.

Rank	Airline	Continent	Eco Points
1	TUI Airways	Europe	79.3
2	LATAM Brasil	South America	78.8
3	China West Air	Asia	77.8
4	TUIfly	Europe	77.6
5	Transavia	Europe	76.3
6	SunExpress	Europe	74.9
7	Thomas Cook*	Europe	74.7
8	Air Europa Express	Europe	73.4
9	Condor	Europe	71.8
10	Juneyao Airlines	Asia	70.9
11	Jet2	Europe	70.8
12	Air Europa	Europe	70.7
13	Air New Zealand	Australia	70.5
14	Vietnam Airlines	Asia	70.4
15	Beijing Capital Airlines	Asia	69.8
16	S7 Airlines	Asia	69.2
17	KLM	Europe	68.9
18	Virgin Australia	Australia	68.5
19	Air New Zealand Link	Australia	68.3
20	Air Caraibes	North America	68.2
21	Avianca	South America	67.9
22	Alaska Airlines	North America	67.4
23	Shandong Airlines	Asia	67.4
24	Sichuan Airlines	Asia	67.4
25	Thai Airways	Asia	67.4
26	Air Transat	North America	67.1
27	UTair	Asia	66.9
28	Air India Express	Asia	66.8
29	Hong Kong Airlines	Asia	66.2
30	Shenzhen Airlines	Asia	66.1

* Thomas Cook ceased operations in 2019

A Look At The Bottom Of The List?

Of course, it is always interesting to see who’s at the bottom of a list. That’s why we also took a look at the bottom of the list. And again we can come up with some surprising results. So here are the 5 worst airlines in terms of eco friendliness!

Rank	Airline	Country	Eco Points
121	Delta Connection	USA	28.5
122	Envoy	USA	28.2
123	Kenya Airways	Kenya	27.6
124	Egyptair Express	Egypt	25.4
125	South African Airlink	South Africa	2.3

And if you want to check out all the details, here’s the link to the entire list from atmosfair.

Want To Know More About Airlines And Sustainability? Here’s Where To Start!