Liligo reveals budget carrier easyJet greener than BA

A newly released study from Liligo reveals that using budget airlines is a greener option.

Liligo informs that the delegates of the UN Climate Change summit in Copenhagen last week should had looked closer at low-priced airlines when arguing about the impact of air travel on climate change. The travel search engine further said that by opting to take budget flights as an alternative to business class, passengers could reduce their own carbon footprint by more than 20 per cent.

By clicking on the Carbon Footprint tool on Liligo’s website, travellers can estimate the environmental impact and cost of their trip, thus providing them better choices.

The analysis from Liligo’s website shows that budget carriers offer much lower carbon footprint to passengers than other airlines due to many factors.

Low cost airlines fit more seats on their jets. For instance, easyJet’s budget fleet, mainly consisted of Airbus 320 aircrafts, is fitted with 180 seats. Whereas, the UK national carrier, British Airways (BA), uses the same aircraft model but only has 134 seats.

Moreover, budget carriers fill their seats faster than other traditional airlines. In one-year operation up to September 2009, the yield factor of easyJet was 85 per cent, higher than BA’s average 75 per cent on European routes.

Budget airlines also use newer aircrafts with more modern, fuel-efficient engines. The average age of easyJet’s fleet is under 3 years, while BA’s average fleet age is over 9 years.

Considering the following factors, Liligo Manager Gbenga Kogbe concluded the study, saying that a traveller could reduce carbon footprint around 20 per cent by flying with easyJet over BA.