New destinations on Air France's summer schedule and a new biofuel service from Finnair lead this week's air travel news.
In flight news this week, Air France announced its schedule for the upcoming summer peak season in July and August, which will include four new destinations for the airline: Heraklion (Crete, Greece), Palermo (Sicily, Italy), Olbia (Sardinia, Italy) and Split (Croatia) on departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle. (The Obi flights will be operated by the airline's HOP! Air France subsidiary.)
All of the new flights will be out of Paris-Charles de Gaulle. Additionally, Air France will continue the operation of flights from the 2018 summer season on departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle to the following four destinations: Cagliari (also operated by HOP!), Dubrovnik, Ibiza and Bari.
In sustainable travel news, this week Finnair announced a new program that will allow customers to offset the carbon dioxide (C02) emissions of their flights either by supporting a CO2 emissions reduction project or by purchasing biofuel flights. The new program is the result of a partnership between Finnair and NEFCO, a financial institution established by Nordic Governments to finance sustainable green growth and climate projects. The offset changes will help fund an emissions reduction project identified by NEFCO in Mozambique, enabling the use of more efficient cooking stoves, which, in turn, reduce wood charcoal consumption and deforestation.
Finnair customers can choose to support a CO2 emissions reduction project by making offset payments of one euro for a return flight within Finland, two euros for a return flight within Europe, and six euros for a return intercontinental flight. The charges are based on the average emissions and costs of reducing a CO2 ton within the project. The payments are transferred to the project in full through NEFCO. Finnair also offsets the CO2 emissions of its own personnel’s duty travel through the CO2 emissions reduction project, the airline said.
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