Air New Zealand scoops two prizes in Air Transport World awards

Air New Zealand has won international awards for its environmental initiatives and its SkyCouch seats in what it describes as an unprecedented double at "Oscars of the airline industry". In the Air Transport World Airline Industry Awards it was crowned Eco Airline of the Year and won the Passenger Experience Achievement award for recent upgrades to its Economy SkyCouch seats. The Eco-Airline of the Year award recognises Air New Zealand's portfolio of sustainability work. This includes the airline's commitment to reducing waste through its Project Green initiative, engagement with and support for regional New Zealand communities and reducing carbon emissions both within the airline's own operations and encouraging travellers to do the same through its voluntary carbon offsetting programme, FlyNeutral. During the past 12 months it has saved 7300 tonnes of carbon in the past 12 months by using electricity to power aircraft while at the gate and 8700 tonnes of carbon has been offset from Air NZ employee business travel. Close to 27,000 tonnes of carbon was voluntarily offset by customers in 2018 through the airline's FlyNeutral programme.<br/>