The issue of sustainability looms over the aviation industry but Air Partner have decided to address this head on. Demonstrating their commitment to negating the damaging environmental effects of aviation, the company recently announced the appointment of Greg Charman as environmental, social and governance (ESG) manager.
Along with this, Air Partner also announced a three-year partnership with Raleigh International, a youth organisation that creates solutions to the world’s most urgent problems, such as the climate emergency.
ACW spoke with Greg Charman about how the charter specialist is pushing for sustainability.
ACW: Why did Air Partner choose to support Raleigh International?
Greg Charman: Through our environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy we have been seeking to find ways for the business to address sustainability and climate change in a meaningful way. Raleigh International is a fantastic youth-led organisation with a great reputation for taking action to combat climate change, something that Air Partner is focussed on cultivating to positively impact the communities in which we operate.
ACW: Is there a reason as to why Air Partner chose to support a youth organisation specifically?
Charman: Young people are undoubtedly the key to building a more sustainable future for generations to come. Like Raleigh International, our business is passionate about empowering the next generation of leaders to help protect the environment as we approach 2050 and countries seek to meet their net-zero targets. We were excited to be able to support the ambitions of young volunteers globally with projects such as rewilding and conservation and provide the opportunity for our employees to get involved and support great initiatives such as tree planting.
ACW: What exactly will the partnership involve?
Charman: Air Partner has appointed project leaders on Raleigh International’s Re:Green programme in Scotland, focussed on conservation projects. Our employees will also receive training from Raleigh International around environmental campaigning skills and oversee the development and health & safety of a group of young volunteers aged 18-24. We will also be working with Raleigh International in support of their ‘challenge’ activities which include tree planting, reducing plastic waste and food waste.
ACW: How is Air Partner pushing for sustainability within its own operations?
Charman: We have a clear environment strategy in place to reduce our internal resource consumption and the amount of carbon emissions we produce. We have introduced a carbon reduction programme for our offices, which includes actions such as working as a paperless office, reducing the use of marketing material other than online, increasing the number of e-learning courses and the use of renewable energy in offices. Additionally, we only partner primarily with catering companies which have an environmental or sustainability policy in place.
In the longer term, we are encouraging employees to transition from car usage to hybrid or fully electric vehicles and we actively promote the use of public transport, cycling to work initiatives, car sharing, and home working coupled with the increased use of video conference technology to reduce employee travel.
ACW: The aviation industry is a huge source of environmental pollution. Do you believe the industry has a duty to try to offset this?
Charman: Environmental concerns continue to present a significant challenge for the aviation industry and undoubtedly, it is an increasingly urgent issue that businesses must work to resolve. In line with the UK government’s targets of net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050, the industry will need to invest in advanced technologies, the increased use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and taking remedial actions such as carbon offsetting and reducing resource consumption.
Additionally, our business is committed to tackling the social aspects, otherwise known as the ‘S’ of ESG, ensuring that we are contributing to positive changes in our local communities through charity partnerships and support of initiatives such as the Tree Planting Action Challenge through Raleigh International.
We are aware that the vast majority of carbon emissions resulting from our business activities are from the flights provided to our customers, which is a challenge that the wider aviation industry is seeking to tackle.
Our partnership with ClimateCare allows our customers to offset carbon emissions of their private charter flights, based on the type of aircraft being chartered and the distance flown. We are actively promoting the scheme with our customers.
ACW: With this in mind, how will Air Partner continue to grow as a business?
Charman: Air Partner has several pillars as part of its long-term growth strategy that the business wants to achieve. These include continuing to put our customers first, growing the business organically and expansion into the Asia Pacific markets in countries such as Dubai, Singapore and Australia.
Additionally, we aim to continue diversifying our portfolio of aviation services and the integration of our portfolio of Safety and Security brands into the Air
Partner group. This includes Baines Simmons, Redline Assured Security and recent acquisition, Kenyon International, a highly complementary business and leader in emergency and disaster recovery services.
ACW: How does this growth tie in with Air Partner’s sustainability strategy?
Charman: Our business is focussed on understanding and improving the impact of its operations on the environment and society. We are in the process of developing and implementing a long-term sustainability strategy and to operating within a responsible and sustainable framework. Central to the success of our sustainability objectives is the development of our people and equipping them to become responsible leaders, to inspire others to act and be more mindful of their impact on the environment which ties strongly with our work with Raleigh International.
Through our work with environmental consultants Delta-Simons, we were able to identify areas where we can add value to the environment protection effort. These include carbon offsetting, charitable partnerships, reduction of resource consumption and transparency in reporting.
