30 January, 2007

Silverjet Awarded Carbon Neutral Airline of the Year Award 2007

Silverjet, the first British exclusively business class carrier and the worlds first carbon neutral airline has been awarded Environmentally Aware Airline 2007 by the Institute of Transport Management (ITM).

The airline successfully launched on Thursday 25th January 2007 and included in the price of the ticket, typically 999 return to New York, is a mandatory carbon offset contribution, giving customers the opportunity to reinvest Carbon Points into a number of climate friendly projects around the world. The scheme is being set up in partnership with leading climate change consultants the CarbonNeutral Company and it has been developed in accordance with the CarbonNeutral Protocol, the leading standard and quality mark for action on climate change.

An example of the Verified Emission Reduction that Silverjet customers will be supporting is a solar panel programme in India, where solar panels replace kerosene burners (the carbon-heavy but cheap fuel of choice).

Silverjet has called upon all airlines to become carbon neutral and the Government to support Verified Emission Reduction projects. If the industry was to simply charge its customers 90 pence for each hour they fly on average, then they could neutralize the carbon pollution created by the aviation industry.

The ITM strongly believe that all transportation companies, especially airlines must now act responsibly and make serious strides to combat climate change by neutralizing carbon emissions.

Lawrence Hunt, CEO of Silverjet, said:

An award for any airline so soon after launch is admirable, but recognition for the hard work we have put into our carbon offset programme is remarkable, we are delighted. The ITM have highlighted for us the emphasis that we feel all airlines should be putting on the vital offset programme for carbon emissions, by including the cost of the programme into our ticket price.

Our scheme is motivational for the customer and not a penny of the money we donate goes to bureaucracy, a point that we feel very strongly about.


Our launch last week was a complete success; our customers have been whisked through our 30 minute check in and boarding, sleeping like logs in our 63 flat beds and enjoying our world class in flight Silver Service. The feedback has been beyond our expectations.

Looking forward, we will launch our second daily London Luton to New York Newark flight in July this year and are committed to a third daily service by the end of the year. We are also planning further long-haul route opportunities in 2008.

Patrick Sheedy, Media and PR Director for the ITM, said:

Silverjets carbon offsetting scheme is particularly effective as it is included within the fare, allows customers to earn carbon points which will engage them in this important global issue and is independently managed by one of the worlds leading carbon neutral companies. This is the first time any air carrier has taken a strong proactive approach to the accountability for air pollution generated by the Aviation Industry.

It is most encouraging to see an airline provide such consideration to the environment. The ethos of Silverjet is to be admired and imitated by the next generation of airline carrier. The Institute is delighted to recognize Silverjet in this way, and welcomes them to the awards table.

Silverjets 420 employees yesterday lost their jobs after the collapse of attempts to save the troubled airline.

End of story.

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