SriLankan Airlines to replace staff vehicles with hybrid cars
Debt ridden SriLankan Airlines in a bid to announce its recent achievement of being ranked 17th for having the lowest carbon footprint airlines in the world, says that it’s planning to upgrade the current staff vehicles to hybrid cars, despite the recent fluctuation on prices of hybrid vehicles.
The airline which is financially in an unstable position, looking at upgrading to hybrid cars will incur further losses. At a media briefing held at the Bandaranaike International Airport Human Resources (HR) Department this week , SriLankan Airlines Head of HR and Convener of Green Team, Pradeepa Kekulawala revealed that the airline is looking at replacing the current staff vehicles with hybrid cars as an airline’s green project initiative.
Mr. Kekulawala said, “It was a pleasant surprise for us when the ‘Business Traveller’ magazine ranked SriLankan Airlines, 2nd in Asia and Asia Pacific and 17th in the World for having the lowest carbon footprint airline. 36 billion tons of carbon dioxide is emitted to the environment, out of which two per cent is from air travel. As a green project initiative we are looking at replacing all our staff vehicles with hybrid cars gradually.” Adding to that he mentioned that SriLankan Airlines’ conservation programme is driven by a cross functional environmental working group that is coordinated by the company’s environmental strategic and compliance unit.
“All of these collective efforts ultimately contribute towards the reduction of carbon emission from the airlines’ operation and achieve the objective of creating a ‘Planet Friendly SriLankan”, he added. The airlines’ Environment Compliance and Planning Manager Dhanushka De Silva at the briefing stated that, fuel being the main cost for the airline, alternative and short routes are taken to reduce the flight time thus burning less fuel. Also flying higher reduces the fuel burn and saves more energy, he added. It was also mentioned at the briefing that key components of the airlines’ green project initiatives include efficient fuel management practices, where every flight is monitored for optimum fuel efficiency.
Among the best practices in use are flying the shortest routes to destinations, single engine taxi for aircraft taxiing on the ground and weight saving by the most lightweight meal carts and other materials on board. Even the weight of magazine and newspapers on board is strictly managed. ‘Business Traveller’ magazine in its January – February 2016 edition has given SriLankan Airlines an evaluation of 72.8, slightly short of the 73.4 of the Taiwanese carrier ‘TransAsia Airways’ which won the first place globally for having the lowest carbon foot print.