The commercial aviation industry has made sustainability a priority.
Almost every day, a major airline, airport, or aircraft manufacturer announces a new program aimed at decreasing flying's environmental impact.
Critics may call it greenwashing in the cosmetics industry, but as the Chinese proverb goes, "a thousand kilometers begins with a single step."
What type of steps are they, though?
Let's look at it more closely.
Eco-friendly initiatives
Almost every major airline has its own environmental program.
Carriers like Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, for example, have replaced many of their older planes with more fuel-efficient models.
Some airlines have formed alliances with national parks and environmental organizations, and they have begun to focus waste minimization in the air.
Many have also pledged to reduce carbon emissions in the next years in some way.
Even so, there is still a long and difficult journey ahead of us.
This is due to the fact that most decarbonization technologies are still in the early stages of development.
Electric planes and hydrogen propulsion are examples of such technologies.
Although research labs play a significant role in the activity, what happens in the public realm is also important.
In the face of increased public scrutiny, airlines are fully aware that they must promote their environmental initiatives.
Some companies have started to demonstrate their commitment to decarbonization by utilising their most visible and valuable assets.
New liveries encourage long-term goals.
Rather than waiting for climate activists to sneak onto the tarmac to paint their jets green in protest, as happened to an Air France Boeing 777 parked at Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) in 2021, numerous airlines have adorned their flights with sustainability-focused imagery.
All Nippon Airways was the most recent carrier to do so, unveiling its "Future Promise Aircraft" earlier this month.
Two of the Japanese carrier's Dreamliners (a Boeing 787-8, JA874A, and a Boeing 787-9, JA871A) will be painted in a special green livery in October.
To be fair, ANA's Future Promise program is more than just a fresh coat of green paint.
For example, the inflight experience will be heavily targeted toward waste minimization, recycling, and upcycling.
Onboard meals will be created with compostable ingredients, and packaging and other products will be constructed of reusable materials.
Other components of this program, such as the promise to "engage with partners in the creation of sustainable solutions," appear to be a little more hazy.
ANA has, however, recently been involved in a number of environmental research projects.
For example, in 2020, the airline teamed up with the Japanese space agency (JAXA) on an atmospheric research project intended at better understanding global warming; some planes were outfitted with sensors and measurement equipment.
One of Turkish Airlines' planes, the A321 ( TC-JSU), has also been painted green.
This aeroplane used a sustainable aviation fuel blend to fly between Istanbul Airport (IST) and Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN).
The Turkish flag airline is using this green leaf livery to emphasise its commitment to using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which it began using on some flights in February.
Turkish Airlines also wishes to highlight its "zero waste" philosophy, which entails that various onboard amenities are created from recyclable or sustainable materials.
Although green is the colour of the year, Lufthansa's "CleanTech Flyer" has a distinctive white livery.
It's not so much about displaying the airline's multifaceted environmental program as it is about showcasing one single aircraft, an Airbus A350.
The #MakeChangeFly label is being used by the German airline to promote its sustainability ambitions.
If such targets are met, Lufthansa's net carbon emissions in 2030 should be half of what they were in 2019.
The newly founded ITA Airways is another airline that has ditched its typical colour palette in favour of emphasising its environmental credentials.
For its fourth A350-900, the Italian airline picked a white livery with an environmentally focused message: "Born to be Sustainable."
ITA Airways intends to draw attention to the various measures it is taking in the realm of sustainability by ditching its vivid distinctive blue in favour of a more austere white.
Among the efforts taken are the optimization and digitalization of numerous processes and operations, the use of sustainable aviation fuel, the use of recyclable materials, and the creation of carbon emission offset programmes for its passengers.
Prepare yourself, spotters:
This aircraft will be used by ITA Airways on flights from Rome's Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport (FCO) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), and Buenos Aires' Ezeiza International Airport (EZE).
These initiatives follow in the footsteps of British Airways' sustainability-themed light blue A319 aircraft, which was unveiled in September 2021, and an even earlier initiative by Portuguese charter and ACMI airline Hi Fly, which designated two of its aircraft (both now retired) to fly special environmental-themed liveries around the world.
To promote awareness of plastic pollution, one of them, an A330-200, was painted with a "Turn the Tide on Plastic" livery.
Hi Fly became the first airline to be completely free of single-use plastics as a result of this campaign.
The other plane was an Airbus A380.
The "Save the coral" livery was painted on the flying giant, drawing attention to the precarious condition of coral reef ecosystems all around the world's oceans.
The Mirpuri Foundation, which also funded a racing yacht carrying the same environmental message to the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race, collaborated on Hi Fly's environmental efforts.
Efforts that aren't limited to messaging
Some airlines have gone a step further, turning their planes into test beds for environmentally friendly technologies in addition to being huge billboards.
Alaska Airlines and Etihad have teamed up with Boeing and a number of other aerospace companies to outfit some of their planes with technology that will ideally provide insight into and bring improvements in areas like fuel efficiency, noise and emissions reduction, and sustainable materials.
These planes are known as ecoDemonstrators.
The ecoDemonstrator programme in Alaska has been in operation since 2012, and eight planes have already flown through it.
A Boeing 737-9 MAX is the current ecoDemonstrator.
It is being used to test up to 20 different technologies.
Boeing and Etihad are collaborating in a similar way.
One of the airline's Boeing 787s has been classified as an ecoDemonstrator.
According to Etihad's data, its aircraft reduced carbon emissions by up to 72 percent on specific trips and led to a 56 percent reduction in the carrier's overall carbon footprint between 2018 and 2021.
To avoid contrail formation, this aptly dubbed "Greenliner" utilised sustainable aviation fuel and a combination of efficiency-enhancing technologies (such as smart routing).
This effort included the in-flight experience, with single-use plastics and other non-reusable products being replaced with recyclable materials.
Final thoughts
None of these incremental innovations are the magic pill that will solve the problem of harmful emissions.
They are, however, already accessible to carriers aiming to reduce their carbon footprint and appeal to environmentally sensitive travellers.
Which airline do you think will be the next to paint its planes green, literally or figuratively?
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