VOLOTERRA:
OUR SUSTAINABILITY PROGRAM.
The environmental dimension of our activities
HOW WE CONTRIBUTE TO CLEANER TRAVEL
We all know it. Our planet needs us all to take action, urgently. The aviation industry is often looked at with skepticism, due to its role in C02 emissions worldwide. No one likes to hear that. At the same time, it is very unlikely that we will see a Europe without airlines in the future.
Volotea was born in the last decade, being well aware of the environmental zeitgeist, and knowing that our duty would be to change a few things. Now that we’ve become a company with enough size to have an impact, we’re getting ahead and want to accelerate the countdown to our goal of reducing emissions.
Our promise
Connect small and medium sized cities in Europe directly: places previously unconnected or underserviced. This was our first step to enable an improvement in the impact of travel among our clients. By helping them avoid taking connecting flights, we’ve cut dramatically their travel footprint.
Our vision
Now is the time to do more. If we are honest, to truly make C02 emissions reduction happen, we’ve got to do this together: clients, our business partners and us. With this in mind, we’ve just released our first C02 emissions reduction plan, and we wish to explain to you how we see it working.
Our future
Eliminate 100% of our C02 emissions. To do this we rely on factors which are still being worked out across the industry, such as sustainable aviation fuels, improvements in technology and our own ability to replace our fleets with more efficient aircraft when possible.
WORKING TOGETHER TO REDUCE THE CO2 FOOTPRINT
Since October 2023, when buying a flight, Volotea passengers can voluntarily participate in the purchase of SAF by contributing €2 per passenger at the payment page.
OUR FACTS, AUDITED BY BUREAU VERITAS
Here are all the facts that have accompanied our commitment to sustainability since we started flying in 2012. The below statements have been audited by Bureau Veritas. The extent of this audit and its result is explained in the Validation Statement that can be accessed here
46,2% reduction
Since we started flying in 2012, we have launched more than 50 initiatives to reduce the fuel consumption of our aircraft, which have helped to reduce the CO2 emissions related to fuel burn per passenger and kilometer (RPK) by 46.2% by end of 2023 (vs 2012).
Fleet renewal
Since early 2021, we removed all of our Boeing 717 aircraft which were more inefficient and polluting. We have renovated our aircraft to a much cleaner and efficient Airbus 319-320 fleet of +40 aircraft.
Only direct routes
Volotea connects more than 100 cities all over Europe and does it through direct flights, without connections through other cities. According to our study, this avoids 68% of time flying that would have a connection flight, which means less fuel-burn CO2 emissions.
90-95% Occupancy
We maximize the occupation of our flights. In 2023, 91% of seats were booked on our regular flights.
Island connectivity
Volotea plays a major role in European island connectivity. In summer 2023 (June to September), 56% of our regular flights were connections to islands like Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily or Mallorca, among other.
Efficient strategy
More than 93 % of Volotea’ s flights cannot be covered by train in less than 6 hours. Among our more than 400 routes, in 2024 only 1 can be covered by train in less than 4 hours (MAD-RMU).
Our commitment to sustainability
Reduction of CO2 emissions
In 2019, we committed to reducing our carbon emissions per passenger kilometer by 50% by 2030 (vs. 2012), but our strong performance to date puts us on track to exceed our original 2030 target by 2025, a full five years in advance!
Sustainable Aviation Fuels
Volotea collaborates with manufacturers and the industry to support the development of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), so that these fuels can be further developed and generalized as soon as possible.
According to ICAO, SAF have the greatest potential to reduce CO2 emissions from international aviation (1) in the short and medium term. The SAF we use in our aircraft have around 90% less CO2 life-cycle emission vs. current fossil-based jet fuel.
In 2023, we have used 648 847 liters of SAF in our flights representing 0.21% of all our fuel burn, (the airline industry average for 2023 is 0,2% of total jet fuel demand (2)). Moreover, we have operated the Airbus internal Hamburg- Toulouse shuttle with a 12% SAF blend in average.
Since 2022, we have used more than 1 million liters of SAF in our flights.
(1) www.icao.int/environmental-protection/pages/SAF.aspx
(2) according to IATA https://www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/pressroom/fact-sheets/fact-sheet---alternative-fuels/?ref=wwf_fgn.
Transition towards a decarbonised aviation
We actively participate in industry forums and associations for the development of new technologies to operate with zero emissions and we are investing on the development of the first commercial electric aircraft, with Dante Aeronautical-Dovetail.
