The Aviation Challenge

It’s time to reshape our industry’s future. That's why SkyTeam launched The Aviation Challenge, harnessing the power of friendly competition to drive the changes our industry needs as we chart a path to Net Zero. 

The Aviation Challenge (TAC) was sparked by SkyTeam member, KLM, during a ‘bold moves’ sustainability brainstorming and inspired by the 1930s London to Melbourne air race.

How it works

Over a specified two-week period, participating airlines operate short-, medium and long-haul round-trip flights that are already part of their networks with the aim to making them as sustainable as possible.

Awards for airlines include operating flights with the lowest CO₂ emissions, achieving the greatest CO₂ reduction (compared to their baseline), the lowest CO₂ emissions for ground handling operations and waste reduction. Other awards celebrate airlines that push the boundaries of sustainability through innovation and those making sustainability a part of their daily operations at greater scale, making progress through industry collaboration.  

The Aviation Challenge 2024

The focus of this year’s Challenge is adoption because TAC’s true impact will only be realized when airlines scale innovations across their entire operations. We will measure and award progress as well as efforts on the flights. 

Award categories will recognize airlines with a strong approach to scaling sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), who excel in collaborative efforts and those who focus on embedding sustainability in broader business practices.  

The Aviation Challenge 2023

This year’s Challenge was even bigger and bolder than the first and included SkyTeam ‘friends and family’ airlines in addition to SkyTeam members. In total 22 airlines participated, operating 72 round-trip short-, medium- and long-haul flights – an increase of 38% and 227% respectively versus the previous year.

TAC 2023 has generated more than 350 new solutions in the quest to find a greener future for air travel with awards covering seven main categories and 25 sub-categories.

The Aviation Challenge 2022

In May 2022, the first-ever Aviation Challenge saw 16 participating airlines find new ways to reduce CO₂ emissions, while generating hundreds of innovative solutions to share across the alliance.

The competing airlines collectively improved operational efficiency by 15%, measured by CO₂ intensity across the 22 flights operated during the two-weeks of the Challenge. Flights were evaluated against 14 categories by an independent and diverse judging panel of international sustainability and aviation industry experts.