Just as California likes to bump up the car tax to plug its budget holes, the UK has a soft spot for taxing the heck out of air travel. The Air Passenger Duty (APD) has only been at its current rate for a couple years, but apparently it’s time to …
Category: Environment
I know this isn’t entirely about the traveler experience, but I thought it would be a very interesting way to close the week nonetheless. 
I had the chance to speak with British Airways’ Head of Environment, Jonathon Counsell, yesterday. We spoke about a new program they’ve launched in cooperation with …
DOT Rejects Blanket Dormancy Waiver
The DOT has decided to deny the request by seven airlines to allow them to suspend international routes without losing the rights. This could get interesting.
Ramping Up Alternative Propulsion Systems
With fuel prices climbing, engine manufacturers are looking for new ways to reduce fuel …
Last week, JetBlue announced its new green initiative called “Jetting to Green.” A lot of it appears to be an effort to put together a nice little PR package of things they already do. 
I wrote about the details over on BNET, but there was one thing that I …
I started putting this post on the airlines and the environment together a long time ago, and then it fell by the wayside. I dusted it off this weekend, and fortunately it’s still relevant. In fact, it’s only going to continue to become a bigger and bigger issue as time …
A nice side benefit of attending JetBlue’s press conference yesterday was that I had the opportunity to meet Ian Gregor, Communications Manager for the FAA’s Western-Pacific Region. We started talking shop, and soon enough I realized that there was something worth writing about here.
LAX has recently started using Continuous …
Let’s stick with the green theme today and take a look at easyJet’s new ecoJet concept. They released plans for a plane that would be 25% quieter, reduce CO2 emissions by 50% (though 10% will come from unrelated air traffic control improvements), and emit 75% less NOx than your run …
I’m in a “green” kind of mood today. It’s probably because we just launched our new environmentally-friendly shopping guide, ShopGreen, here at PriceGrabber. So when I started thinking about what to write today, I immediately thought about the Fischer-Tropsch process.
Huh?
Fischer-Tropsch is actually the process of converting coal …
It seems like just yesterday Richard Branson was touting how his (Virgin Atlantic’s) planes were better because they all had four engines, unlike those British Airways 777s. He even painted it on his planes. 
You might recognize the picture on the left as a former integral part of the livery …
There has been growing concern over the environmental impact of aviation over the last few years. As you would probably expect, Europe has seen much more of a focus than the US, but there certainly has been a growing movement here as well. What does this mean for the industry? …
If you read the newspaper, watch tv, or have any other connection with the outside world, you probably know that Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin empire (including Virgin Atlantic Airways), is pretty good at drawing attention to himself (look left). This week, it was plastered all over the …
On Monday, both Travelocity and Expedia announced that they’re going to be the first travel sites to save the world. Awwww, how sweeet.
Seriously, that’s very nice of them.
What they’re really doing is partnering with two different types of programs that are dedicated to reducing carbon emissions. Expedia has …