AirAsia Making Air Travel Green

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 (Bernama) -- Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia is ramping up efforts to make air travel green and more sustainable by reducing carbon emissions through enhanced operational efficiency. As part of its #GREEN24 climate awareness project, AirAsia released a video two days ago featuring its Group Chief Operating Officer, the late Anaz Ahmad Tajuddin, explaining operational efficiency initiatives taken by the group's engineering division. He said the initiatives included using the base coat clear coat (BCCC) method to paint the liveries on its planes, every night stop checks on tyre pressure and carrying out engine compressor wash. "Our aircraft have different liveries carrying a lot of weight. With the BCCC method, we only need to paint one layer and this will provide savings in terms of weight. "As a result, we will enjoy fuel savings and reduced carbon emissions," he said. The airline would replace any tyre that did not meet the criteria for tyre pressure to ensure a seamless operation the next day and reduce flight delays, he said. The late Anaz said reducing flight delays would also reduce the usage of auxiliary power unit, which in turn would reduce fuel usage. By carrying out engine compressor wash, he said it would generate some 0.2 per cent savings for each engine, amounting to a total fuel savings of 171,000 litres per month. The water and fuel draining process would also be done at every night stop as water contamination on fuel could cause harm to the planes, and result in pollution, micro-organism contamination and inaccurate fuel reading. "We aspire to ensure AirAsia's operations are efficient and lean so we can continue to provide low fares to our customers. "AirAsia not only paints the sky red, but it is now a green airline that you can trust," Anaz added. --BERNAMA