Wizz Air chief Jozsef Varadi has scorned the pledges of airlines which are committing to becoming carbon-neutral in several decades’ time.
Wizz Air chief Jozsef Varadi has scorned the pledges of airlines which are committing to becoming carbon-neutral in several decades’ time.
Varadi spoke during a 13 November half-year briefing at which it put its carbon dioxide emissions figure at 57g per revenue passenger-kilometre, claiming this to be some 40% lower than IAG or Lufthansa.
“It’s great when an airline like British Airways, KLM, or Air France says that in 2050 – we’re all going to be dead by that time – we’re going to be carbon neutral,” he said. “These are the worst-performing airlines.”
He insists that, regardless of their declarations, they “don’t have the financial resources to sufficiently invest” in the technology required to “change the game”.
“I think it’s a bit of a joke, what they’re saying,” says Varadi, pointing out that the larger carrier groups offer business class, lower-density seating, and flight connections. “Inherently their business model is environmentally-polluting.”
He argues that Wizz’s environmental impact is substantially smaller, on a per-passenger basis.
“If you have ‘flight-shaming’, maybe you should have ‘business-class shaming’ and ‘connecting-flight shaming’ as well,” he says. “Maybe we need to think about that.”
