Emirates might be the world’s sexiest airline (though we don’t suggest joining the Mile High club on a journey to Dubai) but Saudia but be the most eco-sexiest so far. The airline we have never heard of, the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has operated the world’s longest net positive flight in May this year.

On its maiden net-positive voyage in from Jeddah to Madrid, Saudia claims it offset a total of 346 tonnes of carbon emissions for commercial passenger flight SV227, making the flight flight net-positive. This means that the passengers of this flight help offset more greenhouse gases than their travel created. 

Operating with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, the flight time was 5 hours and 55 minutes. It departed from King Abdulaziz International airport in Saudi Arabia at 1030 hrs and arrived at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas airport at 1535 local time.

The most “eco” way to fly is not flying at all, and the next step is creating greener fuels, more direct flights, but we should still praise airlines looking to go the extra mile despite so many challenges Covid has thrown at the airline industry. 

How do you make a flight next positive?

The most creative way would be an airplane that sucks greenhouse gases from the atmosphere as it flies. As that’s not a realistic solution, Saudi turned to CarbonClick and aviation consultancy SimpliFlying.

CarbonClick will use proceeds from the flight to generate clean wind electricity for communities in India. From the offsets bought, wind turbines can be powered for 26 days, generating clean energy for the local population.  

The project is building wind power in India, displacing an equivalent amount of carbon-intense electricity which would otherwise rely on dirty fossil fuels for cooking, like coal. The contribution by Saudi to this project will supply clean energy to the grid, providing sustainable electricity to families living in Bhuj, in the western Indian state of Gujarat.

CarbonClick has also provided a landing page for guests on all Saudi flights allowing them to voluntarily offset the carbon emission of their travel. Guests who visit this page will be able to calculate the CO2 impact of their flight and make a contribution towards climate-friendly travel, receiving a verified receipt to fully-traceable carbon offsets.

American college students going to Colorado College, however, don’t appreciate the easy-fix idea of buying carbon credits to achieve carbon neutrality. Read this story we covered on the student body demanding more from their campus, including solar power on campus to offset their studies. 

But we can’t discount the efforts: This flight is SAUDIA’s entry into The Sustainable Flight Challenge, an initiative by SkyTeam, one of the world’s three major airline alliances. All SkyTeam airlines are being challenged to go above and beyond by finding the most sustainable way to operate one single flight in their existing networks.

SkyTeam is one of the world’s three major airline alliances. Founded in June 2000, SkyTeam was the last of the three alliances to be formed, the first two being Star Alliance and Oneworld, respectively. Its annual passenger count is 630 million, the second largest of the three major alliances.

The 20 airlines that are members of SkyTeam include Aeroflot, KLM, Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines, and XiamenAir. 

Carbon demands now from the millennial generation make it complicated for any business to face a world where they can do better. But in Saudi Arabia’s case future flights may end in the use of novel clean technolgies such as cleanly-produced hydrogen fuel. 

Let me explain: Despite Saudi Arabia’s often misinterpreted ideas of how modernity and sustainability should go together (see Neom on the Red Sea) which is paid for by big oil money thanks to Saudi Aramco (the wealthiest company in the world); and Saudi’s undiplomatic response to journalists they don’t like; and the lavish spending habits of its ruling family and Prince, Saudi Arabia is also taking on risks where other companies and countries wouldn’t dare. Its investment into solar desalination early on, and commitment to unproven hydrogen fuel are just a couple of many examples. 

“The Kingdom’s Vision 2030 will see 100 million visits to Saudi Arabia by the end of the decade,” said Saudi CEO Ibrahim Koshy. “A cornerstone of that vision is for the Kingdom to be a leader in sustainable and even regenerative tourism. 

Regenerative is usually applied to agriculture, an approach that includes permaculture, animal systems and human needs into the picture. Since women in Saudi Arabia are not yet to travel aboard without a man’s permission we leave the level of Saudi’s “regenerative tourism” concept to your imagination. Saudi Arabia does have an ambitious plan to plant a million mangroves. (See: In Saudi, it looks like behind every thriving mangrove, there’s a strong woman.)

The flight will also see the world’s first in-flight sustainability lab, where passengers contribute ideas on how air travel can become ‘greener’, led by SimpliFlying.

“Aviation is a difficult sector to decarbonize. New, more sustainable technologies are emerging, but those advances can be easily outpaced by industry growth,” says Michelle Noordermeer, Chief Operating Officer at CarbonClick. “SAUDIA is setting a huge example by showing what can be done now, carbon offsetting, and using quality carbon credits as a powerful way to remove carbon and neutralize the impacts of radiative forcing.”

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Whether or not you are arrested for having sex on a plane largely depends on the aircraft that you’re flying with – and what nation it’s registered to. The issue was spotlighted this week when a randy couple were caught having sex on board a Virgin Atlantic flight to Cancun. (To make matters worse, the moment they were caught was in turn caught on video by other passengers.) On landing, the woman was met by Mexican police and taken into custody for  “disruptive” behavior. No word on what happened to her male “partner in crime.”

Who has owned up to tuning into more than an in-flight movie for airborne entertainment?

In 2007, Virgin founder Richard Branson admitted he became a member of the Mile High Club at age 19 en route from London to Los Angeles. A Qantas stewardess claimed she canoodled with British actor Ralph Fiennes in an aircraft toilet headed to India, but the actor refused to comment. Kardashian matriarch Kris Jenner has also admitted to getting frisky on a flight, with then-husband Bruce Jenner.

Sex on a plane could earn you high-fives and smiles from a lenient flight crew, or land you in uncomfortably hot water. It all depends on a number of variable factors:

• The laws of the country to which the aircraft is registered.
• The laws of the country from which the aircraft is departing.
• The laws of any country whose airspace the aircraft passes through.
• The laws of the country where the aircraft is landing.

A spokesperson from the United Kingdom (UK) Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) told Sun Online Travel, “On board the aircraft, it is the law of the country where the aircraft is registered that applies. People who want to get it on aboard a plane might want to exercise caution – or end up with a fine.”

In the UK, people caught having sex in public could be arrested for the criminal offence of Outraging Public Decency – which could also be applied in an aircraft. It doesn’t matter if your partner is a loving spouse you’ve had for 50 years or if it’s someone you met on the flight that day sitting next to you or from one of the known or best hookup sites. A CAA spokesperson said, “It would be a matter for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to decide if a prosecution should be brought.” This is because there are no specific aviation laws covering this – the same laws that apply domestically within the UK would also apply on board a UK registered aircraft.

In other words, it’s where the aircraft is registered, not the nation from which the airline hails. In this case, in Great Britain, under section 71 of the Sexual Offences Act 2004, it is illegal to have sex in a toilet which the public has access to. The same rule applies on a UK registered plane, and offenders risk a six-month prison sentence or a £1,000 fine.

On Western airlines, over Europe or North America, if the encounter was discreet and only the stewardess noticed, then you’ll likely just be told to stop. At the other end of the scale, you can be detained and charged for causing a disturbance on a plane. If the captain is alerted, you may find authorities waiting for you at your destination. You could face indecent exposure charges, or potentially interfering with the flight crew, which has a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. 

You could suffer far worse consequences if you dallied on a plane registered to a country with stricter rules regarding public displays of affection, and clear rules regarding sex, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, and Indonesia. In Saudi Arabia, simply “consorting” with a member of the opposite sex can lead to flogging, lashing, or imprisonment.

In Dubai, the home of Emirates airline, and in Abu Dhabi, home to Etihad airline, kissing in public – even between married couples – is taboo, and punishable by an unpredictable UAE judicial system. Flights on airlines in predominately Islamic countries may file criminal charges based on the nature of the sexual contact. One American man was sent to jail in Dubai for having cannabis in his blood. He used medical marijuana before his flight and was arrested later in Dubai for having traces of it in his body.

So let the flyer beware. Know the country where the aircraft you choose is registered, because the Kyoto Protocol says that registration country’s laws are valid in an airplane. Look to the flag painted on the aircraft’s tail, or better yet, call the airline to verify. Be wary about any kind of monkey business on-flight, and with Covid, travel safe. And carbon offset!

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The new study appears as airliners are juggling paradoxical goals: maximize in-flight luxuries while “greening up” operations.  How to market modern air travel that’s free from environmental migraines?

Global air travel spewed 689 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2012, according to the Air Transport Action Group.  That’s 2% of the world’s total emissions and 12% of all generated by transport.  Compare that to ground transportation which accounts for 74% of total transport emissions.   (Aviation is a dirty industry, but cars and trucks remain the biggest polluters.)

People occupy less aircraft real estate when squished into “coach” seating.  More passengers-per-plane equals lower per capita carbon emissions.  As reported in the Christine Science Monitor, with more people to bear the fuel-burn burden, the economy in “economy class” is as environmental as it is financial.  First-class seats are more likely than economy seats to remain unsold, raising their carbon tab even higher.

“The problem with this argument is that the footprint of a passenger on a commercial flight depends more on the space taken up by the passenger, and less on how much the passenger (and luggage) weighs,” Jon Strand, a senior economist at World Bank, wrote on the organization’s blog.

His point being that the weight of those sardine-like passengers with their overstuffed luggage reduces the plane’s fuel-efficiency.  But since that only accounts for 15-20% of loaded aircraft weight, this theory that passenger weight is a critical factor doesn’t fly.

It’s not the passengers’ plight, anyway.  Those airline programs to that encourage flyers to offset emissions by paying into carbon funds really burn me up. Sure, consumers can elect to progress specific initiatives using their purchasing power , but the responsibility to clean up the industry lies with the industry.

Some aircraft manufacturers are exploring lightweight materials and maximally efficient engines and electrical systems. Others are making advances in operations, coordinating with airports to build power plug-ins that allow planes to shut off auxiliary engines during loading, unloading, and cleaning; saving jet fuel and reducing emissions.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner saves 20% on fuel compared to planes of similar sizes, but it’s been plagued with technical difficulties. Consider next the Airbus A380, a super jumbo jet also with green aspirations. But when they’re purchased by Saudi princes as private jets to fly a handful of friends and family, no level of aircraft leanness will render them carbon-friendly.

It will be interesting to see if the like of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Airlines (he pledged $3 BIL to green up aviation) or Canada’s Air Transat (the first certified green airline by World Green Aviation Council) manage to solve the luxury versus reduced environmental impact conundrum.

In the meantime, at least there’s an environmental reason to feel pretty good about squeezing in coach.

Image of crowded commercial flight from OutTravelers

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