Vietnam Airlines has participated in this year’s Sustainable Flight Challenge, performing a long-haul flight from its Hanoi base to Frankfurt in May.
SkyTeam’s Sustainable Flight Challenge aims to encourage airlines to find innovative ways to make air travel greener.
On this special flight, Vietnam Airlines handed passengers souvenir tote bags made from decommissioned life vests, and it served sustainably sourced meals.
The airline is partnering local Vietnamese social entire Limloop to recycle old life vests into passenger amenities.
For more sustainable inflight food and beverage offerings, Vietnam Airlines is sourcing alternative plant-based protein from sustainably grown soybeans through a partnership with the US Soybean Export Council.
The airline is also working with VietHarvest to supply excess food from its kitchens to people in need.
“Enhancing our sustainability efforts by introducing new solutions to reduce environmental impact is one of many meaningful activities that we are working on and we believe this can make a positive impact on our society and inspire airlines worldwide to change. Vietnam Airlines is determined to reinforce our commitment to environmental goals, including net zero emissions by 2050,” commented Vietnam Airlines head of corporate communications, Dang Anh Tuan.
Launched in 2022, the Sustainable Flight Challenge is the industry’s first sustainability initiative of its kind and aims to affect meaningful change in the short-term.
All participating airlines commit to sharing their innovations and insights industry-wide after the challenge to help reduce aviation’s environmental impact while the industry waits for greater availability of alternative fuel sources.
This year’s challenge took place from May 15 to May 28, with 22 airlines participating and performing 72 sustainable flights – 24 long-haul, 24 medium-haul, and 24 short-haul services.
The initiative is organised by SkyTeam, with all 19 alliance members participating alongside Endeavor Air, Jambojet and Shanghai Airlines.