As Hi Fly celebrated the official delivery of the new Airbus A330neo, the Mirpuri Foundation was on hand to remind guests, dignitaries and journalists of the hard work that it, as Hi Fly’s principal sustainability partner, has been doing in the name of industry sustainability.
Hi Fly has been seeking to renew its fleet and the move to a more environmentally friendly aircraft with reduced fuel-burn is in line with Hi Fly and the Foundation’s long commitment to sustainability practices. Speaking at the event in Toulouse, Mirpuri Foundation and Hi Fly President Paulo Mirpuri explained to attendees the work that Hi Fly and the Foundation have been doing.
Paulo Mirpuri explained how Hi Fly, with the support of the Mirpuri Foundation, operated the world’s first plastic-free flights in the world and how the airline is planning to be flying completely plastic-free by the end of this year – and carbon-neutral by the end of 2021.
Guests were able to see and try out for themselves some of the single use-plastic items that Hi Fly has replaced. Bamboo cutlery was on display as were cups, spoons, salt and pepper shakers, packaging for bedding, dishes, individual butter pots, soft drink bottles and toothbrushes made with compostable alternatives to plastic crafted from recycled materials.
And airline executives, in particular, seemed impressed. Speaking on behalf of Airbus Peter Bennett the company’s Vice President of Customer Affairs (Western Europe) said: “Hi Fly must be one of the main costumers we have that really focuses on the environment as an objective for the future, we saw it at the [Farnborough] air show last year with the A380 “Save The Coral Reefs”. This was fantastic, it got a lot of publicity and it caught the imagination of quite a few people. We also have “Turn the Tide on Plastic” [liveried] on one of the A330’s, so we are very focused and very happy and proud to be associated with Hi Fly (a company) that focuses so much on the environment.”
Marc Baer, Executive Vice President of the Air Lease Corporation also praised the work of the Foundation telling the audience: “I spoke to Ana Agostinho at the Mirpuri Foundation earlier and she reemphasized how much the environment and the global concern for the environment really does drive the Mirpuri [Foundation ] and Hi Fly companies.”
And the latest acquisition by Hi Fly seems to prove his point. The A330neo is powered by the highly efficient new-generation Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 engines, the seventh iteration of the Trent family of large turbo-fan jet engines. Since bleed-air is used instead of electrical power generation, fuel consumption is improved by 14%.
Summing up the event, Paulo Mirpuri said that the event had been “a very important one for the company.”
“Hi Fly is a very environmentally concerned company,” he said. “When we were thinking about our next aircraft and how to renew our fleet we wanted something that was good for the environment, that was good for our clients, and that was good for the business.”
Speeches at the Ceremony:
Peter Bennett from Airbus
«About the environment, Hi Fly must be one of the main costumers we have that really focuses on the environment as an objective for the future, we saw it at the air show Last year the A380 “Save The Coral Reefs”, this was fantastic it got a lot of publicity and it caught the imagination of quite a few people. We also have “Turn the Tide on Plastic” on one of the A330’s, so we are very focused and very happy and proud to be associated with Hi Fly that focuses so much on the environment. We are happy to be associated with Hi Fly in protecting the environment, that’s a very important feature of A330 Neo»
Christophe Molus from Rolls Royce
«Paulo you cannot have picked a better or greener engine to pull your environmental strategy, for your flights to be carbon neutral by 2021. We have great respect for your plastic-free initiative, your dedication to protecting our oceans, and your commitment to improve sustainability across our business.»
Marc Baer from ALC «I spoke to the Mirpuri Foundation earlier and reemphasized how much the environment and the global concern for the environment really does drive the Mirpuri [ Foundation ] and Hi Fly companies and, you know, it is when you have a 25% fuel burn advantage over the previous generation and correlating reduction in CO2 emissions, which is greatly reduced and that’s becoming a really important consideration in today’s airports. It’s really a testimony to the capabilities of the airplane. »
