The Lufthansa Group has reported more than a million passengers purchased its new Green Fares in the first 12 months of them being made available across its European network.
The figure equates to around three per cent of passengers who were able to book the fare type, which is currently available on Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, SWISS, Edelweiss, Discover Airlines and Air Dolomiti on flights within Europe as well as to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
The airline group revealed Green Fares are selected for 11 per cent of Business Class bookings via its own portals and the routes where the fare type is most popular are Hamburg-Munich, Zurich-London and Frankfurt-Berlin. Since 7 September 2023, SWISS services between Zurich and Geneva have been exclusively sold as Green Fares.
“Demand continues to rise steadily in all booking classes, underlining the success of the more sustainable fare,” the group said in a statement.
The fares, which are also currently being piloted on select long-haul services to the US and Asia, include a price component for offsetting the carbon emissions associated with the passenger’s flight via a combination of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) purchases and contributions to “high-quality” climate protection projects.
The airline group said SAF purchases contribute to a 20 per cent reduction in Co2 emissions, while the remaining 80 per cent is compensated through 15 climate protection projects. These include two technology-based projects: Carbon Cure's Sustainable Concrete (carbon capture and long-term storage in concrete) and Biochar (Co2 removal with biochar).
In total, travellers have offset more than 77,000 tonnes of Co2 since the launch of Green Fares, which equates to the Co2 emissions of more than 12,000 flights from Hamburg to Munich with an Airbus A320neo, according to Lufthansa Group.
Four per cent of passengers have also tapped the group’s other sustainable flying options, such as selecting tailored offers with a higher proportion of SAF, the group said.
Additionally, in 2023, more than 1,500 companies worldwide invested in SAF with the group.