The Airbus A330 making Tuesday’s Finnair flight from Helsinki to New York will be running on biofuel partly made from recycled cooking oil from restaurants.
It’s perfectly safe – and Finnair and several other airlines have done it before – but this flight is designed to coincide with the UN Climate Summit taking place in New York and draw attention to the fact that progress is being made on developing environmentally sustainable biofuel.
As Finnair reminds us, “most of an airline’s environmental impact arises from aircraft emissions during flight and switching to a more sustainable fuel source can reduce net CO2 emissions by between 50 and 80 per cent.”
But while everything from used cooking oil to plants, algae, municipal waste, recycled vegetable cooking oil, animal fat and sugarcane have been considered or tested in aircraft in search of safe, alternative, sustainable biofuels, the cost to make that alternative fuel is still at least twice as much – or more – than conventional jet fuel.
But along with Finnair, other airlines, including KLM and Alaska Airlines, airport operators, manufacturers and a variety of governments around the world are working on ways to lower the costs of creating these alternative jet fuels.
So it’s possible that soon you’ll be flying on a jet burning fuel made with old frying oil too.
In a move to make flying a bit more friendly—and to raise revenues—airlines are bringing social media-style giving to the skies.
This week Southwest Airlines introduced a Facebook option that enables people to pool funds to buy a Southwest gift card for a friend or family member.
“It allows a group to come together to give a gift as a thank you or as congratulations for a wedding, a birthday or a major life milestone,” said Southwest spokesman Dan Landson.
In April, Virgin America introduced an in-flight, seat-to-seat drink and snack delivery program that Virgin Group founder Richard Branson described as a way passengers might increase their chances of “deplaning with a plus one.”
And earlier this month social media-savvy KLM introduced an option that expands on the Dutch airline popular program of surprising its passengers with personalized gifts.
The new KLM Wannagives lets people prepurchase gifts—from chocolate and perfume to jewelry or a Delft Blue singing, floating egg-timer—that are delivered by crew members to a passenger during a flight.
“The strength of Wannagives lies not in the fact that we give something extra to our customers, but that we enable people to give each other something special,” KLM’s social business manager Lonneke Verbiezen wrote in a blog post introducing the program.
It’s also a way for the airline and other companies to increase retail sales.
“There’s always a commercial component to these efforts, as there should be. This is business,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst with Hudson Crossing.
“Airlines are becoming much more entrepreneurial and innovative when it comes to securing additional revenues from passengers, be it via preordering duty free or investing in digital platforms for on-board retail,” said Raymond Kollau of Airlinetrends.com. “KLM’s Wannagives is a good example of airlines’ newly found retailing mind-set.”
Items made available as Wannagives are drawn from KLM’s current online shop, with a few products added. Since the program’s Dec. 9 rollout, Champagne with a crystal glass and Godiva chocolates are the most ordered items, said KLM spokesman Koen van Zijl.
“We think the service is a win-win for both our passengers and for the company,” van Zijl said. “We were asked often if it is possible to surprise a passenger on board, and Wannagives now makes this happen. And sure, we aim to increase in-flight sales.”
Looking forward to 2014, industry experts expect the social gifting trend to continue.
“In the digital world we live in, everyone craves more personal connection,” said Brian Erke, CEO and co-founder of social gifting site Gratafy. “This new adventure in simple yet personal gifting offers a sense of camaraderie and the ability to be there for someone, even when you can’t actually be there.”(M
(My story about in-flight social gifting first appeared on CNBC Road Warrior)
Perhaps you remember this video featuring Sir Richard Branson introducing Virgin America’s “Seat to Seat Delivery” service allowing passengers to send a drink, a meal or a snack to another passenger using the seat-back ordering system.
In order to send another Virgin America passenger a gift, you need to be on the same plane.
But not on KLM, which has a “WannaGives” program that allows people on the ground to pre-purchase gifts for passengers who will be flying on a KLM flight.
The gift-wrapped present can be purchased for cash or miles and will be hand-delivered by the crew during the flight.
For a bit more cash or miles, the airline will also deliver the gift to someone’s home.
KLM’s suggested list of in-flight gifts is quite varied and includes everything from a small bottle of fancy champagne with a crystal glass to preferred seating, perfume, wallets, jewelry, a kid’s pilot set and this adorable Delftblue singing floating egg timer which plays a different traditional Dutch tune depending on whether the egg is soft-boiled or hard.
Throughout October and November passengers on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flights from Amsterdam will notice a special Dutch theme as the airline celebrates its “From Holland” festival by offering food and entertainment featuring Dutch products and farming.
“The meals KLM on intercontinental flights in World Business Class (WBC) from Amsterdam during the festival are made from all kinds of ingredients produced by Dutch farms, fisheries and suppliers. KLM will serve Willem van Oranje potatoes from Flevopolder, Reypenaer cheese from Woerden, and wine from the coastal province of Zeeland. The desserts have been developed by Huize van Wely. The pike-perch with the Zuiderzeezilver label are also caught in the IJsselmeer and Markermeer just north of Amsterdam. A range of Dutch autumn vegetables and fruit also feature on the menus.”
Yum.
In European Business Class, the “Touch of Dutch” menu will include those Huize van Wely desserts. And in Economy Class on European flights, the Dutch touch will feature large “stroopwafel” syrup biscuits, cheese crackers, and bread rolls filled with Beemster cheese.
Intercontinental Economy Class passengers aren’t left out either: there, the menu will include red cabbage with minced-beef meatballs or a fish dish with a Dutch-cheese sauce.
Not interested in those dishes? KLM says the Dutch products will be offered as an option alongside the international onboard meals it usually serves.
The in-flight “From Holland” festival goes beyond food: on the in-flight entertainment system the airline will be serving up Dutch films, music and other programming.
Great airport souvenirs usually show up on Stuck at the Airport on Sunday, in the occasional Souvenir Sunday feature, but I make exceptions when it comes to chocolate.
(Photo courtesy San Antonio International Airport)
These jalapeno and red chile-flavored chocolate bars were spotted at San Antonio International Airport, which joins the city in celebrating Fiesta.
In addition to this chocolate, airport spokesperson Rich Johnson says that in honor of the citywide party and cultural event, “There are lots of cool, cultural items in our shops, including piñatas, clothing, cascarones (egg shells filled with confetti) and other items.”
There’s also a food-related celebration on some KLM airplanes.
From now through June, the sandwiches served on the European routes flown by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will sport festive wrapping paper designed by students from an art and design school in the Netherlands.
Students were asked to come up with designs that were “culinary, surprising, inspirational and energetic,” and, after polling Facebook fans and experts, three winners were chosen.
The designs will be featured through June on packaging in KLM’s “Delicious” economy-class flight product line, which includes snacks, meals, sandwiches and hot towels.
Artwork by Silvie Buenen, Tom van der Pijl and Agnes Loonstra; images courtesy KLM.
