CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Flexjet LLC, a global leader in fractional private jet travel, today announced that it has achieved carbon-neutral flight operations through its partnership with 4AIR, the first and only rating system focused on comprehensive sustainability in private aviation. Since January 2021, Flexjet has been purchasing credits to offset carbon emissions from all flights booked by its US-based Owners. With 4AIR’s expertise and assistance, Flexjet’s verified credits will fund carbon offset projects which will negate the impact of emissions generated by its aircraft at no additional expense to its Owners.
“Flexjet has long been on the leading edge of applying innovation to its operations, and our partnership with 4AIR brings that same spirit to protecting the environment,” said Flexjet Chief Executive Officer Michael Silvestro. “In supporting carbon offset projects around the world, Flexjet can offer peace of mind that today’s efforts are having an immediate positive impact on the environment.”
While some major private aviation providers have put the financial burden of carbon offsets on their customers, Flexjet is taking on that financial responsibility. In fact, in January, Flexjet began offsetting 100% of the CO2 emissions from all of its US-based aircraft for its Owners - including emissions from the company’s internal airline, Project Lift, which transports Flexjet pilots to their flight assignments.
This offset program is being done without any additional expense to Flexjet Owners. The company is on track to offset 400,000 metric tons of carbon by the end of 2021. This action results in immediate impact on the environment, not in some future decade.
And because Flexjet considers sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to be an important piece of the global warming solution puzzle, the company is working with 4AIR to offer Owners the option of upgrading their sustainability commitment by using SAF for their flights where it is available.
Through offsetting all flights and offering SAF, Flexjet has taken immediate steps to minimize Owners’ impact on the environment while enabling them to support the technologies of tomorrow's sustainability.
The industry-leading verified offsets purchased through 4AIR support a half-dozen projects including solar, wind and forestry initiatives. One example is the Cookstove Project in Rwanda, which distributes fuel-efficient cookstoves to families living in rural Rwandan communities who cook over open fires inside their homes. Using these stoves instead of open fires, the families will reduce the amount of wood and coal consumed, reduce the time they must spend collecting the fuel (in some cases hours each day), reduce the dangerous air pollutants released into their homes and reduce carbon dioxide production – a leading cause of global warming.
Flexjet selected 4AIR to manage the offsets, standards, verification, validation and retirement of carbon credits through the most respected and international leading bodies that issue and register credits.
The 4AIR rating framework offers benchmarks that are aligned with industrywide carbon reduction goals and consistent with international standards. The framework offers various levels, each with specific, science-based goals, independently verified results and progressively greater impacts on sustainability. For 2021, Flexjet has committed to the 4AIR Bronze level, under which its flight operations will be carbon-neutral by offsetting all of its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with verified carbon offset credits.
About Flexjet
Flexjet first entered the fractional jet ownership market in 1995. Flexjet offers fractional jet ownership and leasing. Flexjet’s fractional aircraft program is the first in the world to be recognized as achieving the Air Charter Safety Foundation’s Industry Audit Standard, is the first and only company to be honored with 22 FAA Diamond Awards for Excellence, upholds an ARG/US Platinum Safety Rating and is IS-BAO compliant at Level 2. Flexjet’s fractional program fields an exclusive array of business aircraft—some of the youngest in the fractional jet industry, with an average age of approximately six years. In 2015, Flexjet introduced Red Label by Flexjet, which features the youngest fleet in the industry, flight crews dedicated to a single aircraft and the LXi Cabin Collection of interiors. To date there are more than 40 different interior designs across its fleet, which includes the Embraer Phenom 300, Legacy 450 and Praetor 500, Bombardier Challenger 350, the Gulfstream G450, G500, G650 and G700, and the Aerion AS2 supersonic business jets. Flexjet is a member of the Directional Aviation family of companies. For more details on innovative programs and flexible offerings, visit www.flexjet.com or follow us on Twitter @Flexjet and on Instagram @FlexjetLLC.
About the 4AIR Rating Program
The 4AIR Rating – the first and only rating system focused on comprehensive sustainability in private aviation, taking you beyond carbon neutrality – offers understandable benchmarks that are aligned with industrywide goals and consistent with international standards. This allows private aviation users to evaluate the comprehensiveness of their own sustainability program or that of the private aviation sustainability programs available on the market. 4AIR’s framework offers four increasingly progressive levels:
4AIR Bronze: Carbon-Neutral
4AIR Bronze allows participants to be carbon-neutral by offsetting all of their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions with verified carbon offset credits.
4AIR Silver: Emissions-Neutral
Two-thirds of an aircraft’s environmental impact comes from non-carbon dioxide warming pollutants such as water vapor, soot and contrails. 4AIR Silver enables participants to be fully emissions-neutral, compensating for non-CO2 impacts with verified offsets.
4AIR Gold: Emissions Reduction
4AIR Gold allows participants to go beyond emissions neutrality to actually reducing emissions by at least 5 percent through solutions such as using Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) or purchasing SAF credits through 4AIR.
4AIR Platinum: Climate Champion
4AIR Platinum allows participants to support new technologies in aviation with a contribution to the Aviation Climate Fund, aimed at supporting research and development in aviation sustainability.
About 4AIR
4AIR is an industry pioneer offering sustainability solutions beyond just simple carbon neutrality. Its industry-first framework seeks to address climate impacts of all types and provides a simplified and verifiable path for private aviation industry participants to achieve meaningful aircraft emissions counteraction and reduction.
The 4AIR framework offers four levels, each with specific, science-based goals, independently verified results and progressively greater impacts on sustainability that make it easy for private aviation users to pursue sustainability through access to carbon markets, use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel, support for new technologies and other strategies.
All carbon credits through 4AIR are quantified and verified through the most respected and international leading bodies that issue and register credits, including the American Carbon Registry, Climate Action Reserve, Verified Carbon Standard (VERRA) and The Gold Standard. Additionally, end-of-year commitment audits are independently verified by third parties. 4AIR also serves the demand signal working groups with the World Economic Forum’s Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition.
For more information, visit us at www.4air.aero.
