SkyTeam announces second Sustainable Flight Challenge for 2023

AMSTERDAM, 9 February 2023 – SkyTeam, the global airline alliance, has announced its second Sustainable Flight Challenge will take place in May 2023 with the enthusiastic support of its member airlines’ CEOs. The Sustainable Flight Challenge (TSFC) is a powerful way to encourage global airlines to accelerate their sustainability journeys by finding new ways to reduce air travel’s carbon footprint. This year, TSFC has been extended to ‘friends & family’ airlines close to SkyTeam, as the alliance seeks to drive broader industry change.

The inaugural Sustainable Flight Challenge was launched in May 2022 and brought 16 airlines together to search for the most innovative solutions to make flights as environmentally sustainable as possible. By building on knowhow and trialling new ideas, these airlines completed a total of 22 medium- and long-haul flights that already formed part of their existing networks.

TSFC sparked hundreds of new ideas to make air travel greener and collectively improved operational efficiency by 15% across the flights operated as part of the challenge, measured by CO₂ intensity. Building on these sustainability efforts, many of the new ideas from last year’s challenge will be adopted by participating airlines as part of TSFC 2023.

“The transformation needed to reduce aviation’s environmental impact cannot happen by working in isolation. Our members are sharing a wealth of creative ideas and showing immense commitment in our bold ambition of making The Sustainable Flight Challenge a force for change,” said Patrick Roux, SkyTeam CEO and Managing Director. “With sustainability a key pillar of SkyTeam’s strategy, we are excited to extend this year’s challenge to other airlines and industry partners to spark more creativity and find more innovations. By sharing knowledge and workable solutions we can deliver a more sustainable experience for customers, while helping decarbonize aviation to better protect the planet.”  

Shared solutions
TSFC is more than a competition: collective learning is central to the program. All participating airlines commit to sharing learnings open source, respecting competition law boundaries, to help drive industry change. In August 2022, participating airlines showcased their best innovations at a two-day seminar to promote best practices that can be implemented to help make travel on SkyTeam members more sustainable.

Last year’s TSFC flights were evaluated against 14 categories by an independent judging panel. The panel was made up of diverse international sustainability and aviation industry experts, led by former Dutch prime minister and environmental campaigner, Professor Dr. Jan Peter Balkenende.

Airlines participating in the inaugural Sustainable Flight Challenge included Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Air France, China Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Garuda Indonesia, ITA Airways, Kenya Airways, KLM, KLM Cityhopper, Korean Air, Saudia, TAROM, Vietnam Airlines and Xiamen Air.

Visit sustainableflightchallenge.com

About SkyTeam
SkyTeam is dedicated to powering a seamless customer journey, with all members working together to connect millions of passengers across an extensive global network. The members are Aeroflot (suspended), Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Air France, China Airlines, China Eastern, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Garuda Indonesia, ITA Airways, Kenya Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air, Middle East Airlines, Saudia, TAROM, Vietnam Airlines, and XiamenAir.

About The Sustainable Flight Challenge
The Sustainable Flight Challenge (TSFC) was created to challenge the aviation industry to stimulate and accelerate innovation towards a sustainable future for air travel. TSFC is presented by SkyTeam, a leading airline alliance with member carriers around the world. Launched May 2022 it inspires airlines to find their most sustainable solutions and share their findings with each other. This friendly contest is another step in the aviation industry’s path towards a more sustainable future.

Award Categories
Award categories and metrics for the Sustainable Flight Challenge were independently determined by international consultancy Bain & Company, and are as follows:

• Greatest CO₂ Reduction Long Haul
• Greatest CO₂ Reduction Medium Haul
• Lowest CO₂ Emissions Long Haul
• Lowest CO₂ Emissions Medium Haul
• Lowest CO₂ Emissions Ground Handling
• Lowest CO₂ Emissions Food & Beverage
• Best Waste Management
• Best Sustainable Innovation In-Flight
• Best Sustainable Innovation Cargo
• Best Sustainable Innovation Economic Value
• The Boldest Move
• Best Partnership
• Best Customer Engagement
• Best Employee Engagement

 

Sustainable Flight Challenge Qualifying Flights