2009-12-10 10:17:36 -

Delegates at this week’s UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen should look closer at low-cost airlines when discussing the impact of flights on climate change. By choosing to take low cost budget flights, instead of business class on traditional airlines, they could be reducing their own flight carbon footprint by over 30%.

Analysis from the travel search engine Liligo.co.uk ( www.liligo.co.uk : ) has shown that low-cost airlines offer a lower carbon footprint to travellers due to a number of factors.



- Budget airlines fit more seats in their planes. For instance, easyJet’s fleet mainly comprises of Airbus 320 aircraft fitted with 180 seats a . The standard Airbus 320 configuration comprises of 150 seats b , whereas British Airways using the same aircraft have

them fitted with 134 seats (in a two-class configuration) c .


- Budget airlines fill more seats thanks to lower prices. In the 12 months running up to September 2009, the yield factor for easyJet was around 85% d . The average for BA on European routes was around 75% e .


- Budget airlines focus on short haul. Although budget airlines have more flights and move more passengers, they emit less emissions.
A good proxy for carbon footprint is the available seat kilometre (ASK) of the airline: British Airways f has an ASK two and half times that of easyJet, even though easyJet g carried 30% more passengers than BA in 2009.



- Budget airlines have newer planes; hence they are able to enjoy the fuel efficiency gains of modern engines. The average fleet age for Ryanair is under 3 years h whereas the average age of BA’s fleet i is over 3 times older!


Liligo.co.uk’s calculations show that, such points considering, the average economy class passenger could reduce their carbon footprint around 20% by flying easyJet over British Airways in Europe.


Gbenga Kogbe, UK Manager, Liligo.co.uk, commented: “For a long time the popularity of low-cost airlines has been attacked by environmental campaigners, but our analysis reveals that low-budget airlines are conveying passengers with a lower carbon footprint than many other airlines. Interestingly, their drive for cost-savings also makes these airlines far more carbon efficient.”

Different classes of passenger comfort, airport delays and higher ticket prices resulting in less emptier flights may be just as culpable for CO₂ levels as the increased popularity of flying that budget airlines have brought about.

Gbenga Kogbe of Liligo.co.uk concludes: “Our analysis shows that the environmental stigma of budget travel may be unwarranted. Not only do budget carriers operate more efficiently, travel search engines like Liligo.co.uk can inform travellers of the environmental impact of their journey - integrating carbon footprints alongside prices in search results. Travel deal hunters can now assess both the financial and environmental costs of travelling with low cost airlines, traditional airlines and charter flight companies. While, they are seeking the best prices and they can think CO₂ too.”


Notes to editors

The following sources were used to compile the research.

a) www.airbus.com/en/aircraftfamilies/a320/a320/cabin-layout/ :

b) www.britishairways.com/travel/eurotr/public/en_gb :

c) www.britishairways.com/travel/eurotr/public/en_gb :

d) corporate.easyjet.com/en/Archieve-Do-not-publish/investors-old/r .. :

e) phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MjIxNTR8Q2hp .. :

f) www.britishairways.com/cms/global/microsites/ba_reports0809/fina .. :

g) corporate.easyjet.com/en/Archieve-Do-not-publish/investors-old/r .. :

h) www.ryanair.com/doc/investor/present/Half_Year_Results_2009.pdf :

i) www.airfleets.net/ageflotte/British%20Airways.htm :



About Liligo.co.uk

Liligo.co.uk is the UK’s first meta search engine that displays an integration of CO₂ calculations within flight search results.* Crawling the widest range of websites in real-time, travellers are not only able to discover the best deals, but are also able to be information about the environmental cost of their travel arrangements.

Liligo.co.uk is a travel search engine produced by Findworks Technologies. Based in Paris, France, Findworks Technologies has established itself as one of Europe’s most innovative travel technology companies. Localised Liligo.co.uk search engines have been established in Spain, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Hungary with plans to launch in other countries throughout 2010.

Seven reasons that make Liligo.co.uk special.

- Comprehensiveness – no bad surprises for the users - the search engine retrieves and includes hidden fees and charges
- Exhaustiveness – by crawling the widest range of online offers (including low cost airlines), we make sure that users does not miss a deal
- Social Relevance – we not only retrieve the best deals, we also compute the associated environmental cost, the carbon footprint
- Flexibility – uniquely the search offers combinations that results in lower prices (search results show the users how to fly off with one airline and return with another to obtain lower return fares)
- User friendliness – we have paid a lot of attention to the user interface of this travel search tool, making it one of the most easy to use travel meta search engines
- Responsiveness – the search engine technology is home built, so we can better respond to user needs (we don’t use white label engines)
- In Real-time – the search results a shown in real-time, which means that deals discovered are available at the time of query.

* The environmental cost (measured in terms of carbon equivalent) is determined by taking into account the route, number of transits, class of tickets and other key factors.

Heather FortySkywrite Communications for liligo.co.uk020

7608 4658 heather.forty@skywritecomms.com : mailto:heather.forty@skywritecomms.com