British Midland Regional Limited, a British regional airline that operates scheduled passenger services across the UK and Europe, trading as bmi Regional, has claimed that it is the first airline in the UK to achieve the 2012 European Union Emissions Trading Scheme cycle.
11,000 airlines, power stations and industrial plants from across 31 countries are in the process of adhering to the ‘cap and trade’ method of carbon emissions reduction, and bmi is thought to be one of the first to succeed in the goal.
Bmi was able to fulfil the requirements for EU ETS compliance following verification of its 2012 annual emissions report by PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the approval of its emissions in the Union Registry.
Graeme Ross, the company’s chief operating officer, commented on the achievement, saying, ‘The emissions trading system is a cornerstone of the EU’s policy to combat climate change and we’re delighted to lead the aviation sector in the UK with our compliance to this method of cost-effectively reducing industrial greenhouse gas emissions. One of our priorities is to serve our customers well by maintaining an efficient jet fleet and so we operate our 18 Embraer aircraft on a timetable designed to optimise passenger loads: a full aircraft is an efficient aircraft.
‘We take our role in lowering carbon emissions seriously and as we expand our UK and European network we’ll continue to examine and adopt measures to ensure compliance with the emissions trading scheme alongside other environmental practices.’
Bmi operates from its head office at East Midlands Airport and has operating bases at other UK airports including Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
