SriLankan goes greener on World Environment Day

SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka marks the World Environment Day today (June 5, 2013) at the Airline Centre in Katunayake with a day-long line up of green events.

In keeping with this year's United Nations'theme, 'Think. Eat. Save,' the Green Team of SriLankan Airlines together with SriLankan Catering would be conducting an awareness programme among the SriLankan staff on preserving nature through controlling the wastage of food. This will enable them to make wise food choices that have lesser impact on the environment thereby contributing to the collective effort of reducing the carbon footprint.

The in-house module biogas plant at the Airline Centre would be commissioned on the same day, which is expected provide fuel for the main cafeteria in the premises. A programme themed 'Save Today for Tomorrow' would be conducted to educate school children on saving and managing energy. There will also be an art competition where they would not only get the opportunity to showcase their creativity but also draw inspiration to save environment. This year, the Airline implemented RNAV (Required Navigation)/PBN (Perform Based Navigation) approaches to enhance fuel efficiency, saving an average of 500 kg of fuel per flight. The first carrier in South Asia to implement the green flight campaign named 'Planet friendly flights', SriLankan is also closely working with the Airport and Aviation Authority to reduce carbon emissions during aircraft ground movements.

While implementing many signature projects focussing on environmental conservation, the Airline last year switched to 'I-pad Electronic Flying' (IEF) from bulky mandatory paper manuals, to reduce weight on-board and paper clutter in the cockpit thereby enhancing fuel efficiency, accuracy and safety of operations.