Southwest Goes Green With a New, Carbon-Cutting Plane

If Southwest’s CEO, Gary Kelly is tired, you’d never know it: The low-cost carrier has pumped out more news this week than we’ve seen in a while.  Now, the airline is talking about its new green plane.

The company said it looks to the future, when climate change will be commonly integrated within the airline industry. Not only does the move to build green planes help the environment, but it also saves Southwest money and makes good business sense.

What makes a plane green? The bottom line is that planes emit a lot of carbon emissions into the air every day, so the more you can reduce those emissions, the better. This is done by using less fuel. Since it takes more fuel to carry heavier loads, the goal then changes to reducing the weight of the plane. Southwest isn’t trying to boot any of its passengers in order to save weight, so instead it used more weigh-efficient materials, and the new plane ends up saving approximately five pounds per seat. Less weight, less fuel, less emissions = less money to spend for Southwest.

Other additions that make this plane environmentally friendly are its recycled carpet and new, lightweight eco-leather seats. Aluminum seat parts will replace plastic ones, and lighter seat filling all add up to about a 472-pound difference, which is said to reduce 9,500 gallons of fuel each year.

For more on how you can be eco-frendly on the go, check out our up-to-date stories on green travel news.

 

© Cheapflights Ltd Andrea Mooney