Hawaiian outlines goals to promote sustainability
Hawaiian Airlines has published its 2022Corporate Kuleana (Responsibility) Report, providing updates on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance and priorities, including new commitments to replace single-use plastics in cabin service by 2029 and locally source 40 percent of food and beverage for its Hawaii-based catering operations by 2025.
The airline is advancing its initiatives to reduce its environmental impact and achieve net zero carbon emission by 2050. It is exploring sustainable aviation fuel opportunities, preparing to induct a fuel-efficient fleet of 787-9 aircraft next year and is partnering with Conservation International to offer a carbon offset program for travelers while committing to offset emissions from all of its employee business travel on the airline’s flights. Fleet modernization and fuel efficiency practices have driven progressive reductions in the carbon intensity of Hawaiian’s flight operations each year for the last four years, reads the May 2 press release.
Hawaii’s hometown airline also reaffirmed its focus on sustainable tourism last fall by producing a Travel Pono (Responsibly) inflight video as the state of Hawaii began welcoming more visitors and COVID-19-related travel restrictions have eased. The pre-arrival educational spot features airline employees who provide tips on how Hawaiian’s guests can safely enjoy the islands while respecting communities, the culture and the environment. Additionally, Hawaiian last year offered significant funding to travel2change, a Hawaii nonprofit helping to train and scale organizations hosting regenerative tourism experiences.
To address plastic pollution, Hawaiian is committing to replacing 50 percent of single-use plastics from inflight service items with sustainable alternatives by 2025 and 100 percent by 2029. Hawaiian expects to replace about 142,000 plastic bottles served onboard annually in a pilot project using aluminum bottles from water company Mananalu.
“Food sustainability is another important issue for us and our home state, and we support local food production,” the release adds. “Local sourcing of food both supports Hawaii’s economy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions associated with the shipping of products. Over the past few years we have reached 29 percent of our spending on locally sourced in-flight food and beverage products at our Hawaii hubs. By 2025, we are committed to increasing this metric to 40 percent.”
Hawaiian also announced it would only use cage-free eggs for catering on all flights departing from Hawaii by 2025, and on all domestic flights by 2027.
