oneworld

It has long been ranked as one of the world’s safest airlines. But Tuesday Qantas earned a more unfavourable moniker when it was named the most polluting airline to fly between the US and Asia Pacific. A report analysing the fuel efficiency of 20 carriers flying the transpacific route by the International Council on Clean Transportation, found Qantas was almost two-thirds less efficient than the leading airlines, ANA and Hainan Airlines. Qantas’ poor performance reflects its use of 2 of the most fuel-inefficient aircraft, the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-400ER, lower passenger yields and lower freight shares compared with competing airlines. Hainan benefits from using Boeing’s fuel-efficient Dreamliner aircraft while ANA has a robust freight operation, carrying 3 times as much as Hainan, the report said. <br/>

Qantas Airways said Tuesday it had amended its website to no longer refer to Taiwan and Hong Kong as countries, rather than Chinese territories, after China issued a warning to foreign airlines last week. China has stepped up efforts to police how foreign businesses refer to parts of China, or territories claimed by Beijing, including Taiwan and Hong Kong - even if only in pull-down menus on websites. "Due to an oversight, some Chinese territories were incorrectly listed as countries on parts of our website. We are correcting this error," said Qantas. China's civil aviation authority told foreign airlines to check their websites and make any needed changes, but the campaign goes beyond just airlines. <br/>