Portuguese wet lease specialist Hi Fly has operated the world’s first single use plastic free flight. With the EU banning many single use plastics from 2021, this is only the beginning.
Never heard of Hi Fly? That is because they specialise in providing short term widebody capacity for other airlines, to cover seasonal peaks or short term needs.
Plastic Free Flight
The world’s first plastic free flight flew from Lisbon, Portugal to Natal, Brazil on 26 December 2018. To mark the occasion, the airline took video on board the Airbus A340 which you can see below.
Four trials took place over the holiday period and hopefully they were successful. Hi Fly’s President, Paulo Mirpuri, wants the airline to be the world’s first plastic free airline within 12 months.
How Big A Problem Is Plastic On Flights?
Tons of single use plastic is used on flights around the world. Meal trays in economy class often come with every single item in its own little plastic bag, such as the below from American Airlines.
Overall Thoughts
You can see in the Hi Fly video that they are using bamboo cutlery instead of plastic. I noticed on the trolley, there was a tray of bread rolls rather than giving individually packaged bread rolls. All of these little details add up to a plastic free flight.
Changes will need to be made to on board service flows and at catering companies, but where there is a will, there is a way. Hopefully this is the start of a trend in the industry.
What do you think of the first plastic free flight? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Jeff Gilbert via Wikimedia Commons from Jetphotos.net
