Easyjet

A. How did you find this company? What are the main facts about its activities?

I found this company by chance, looking for flights. I soon discovered that besides a profitable business they were also taking care of the environment and they were giving the opportunity to fly to almost everyone with affordable fares. They are a low cost airlines based in London Luton.

B. What are the Ethical challenges this company is addressing?

The main ethical challenge they are facing is that they are polluting the environment. The airline industry is one of the worst in terms of emission. If we look at transports only cars are producing more smog per capita.
Easyjet, emits 27% less carbón per passenger km then the traditional airlines. This result is obtained because they are flying almost always with a very high load factor, and especially thanks to the new technologies in the newer planes. All this attention to the environment surprised me and I looked for more information. I discovered that in 2009 George Monbiot met easyjet chief executive Andy Harrison to show they were performing poorly in terms of noise and pollution. You can see the video in the link attached in bibliography. At that point Easyjet was not a company to dream of. Now, even if the statement seems quite provoking, Easyjet shows a real commitment towards the atmosphere because they are also saving on unnecessary resources on the ground. For instance, they have a cheap bus service to allow customers to use public transport instead of polluting with cars.
Another crucial factor to take into consideration is that Easyjet allows people to fly with affordable fares, reducing the disparity among people in terms of possibility to discover new cities. Ground operations have a vital role to support a low energy and carbon intensive operation - so everything from short turnarounds, simple airport structure contribute to a way of thinking that enhances the environment.
Carbon dioxide currently accounts for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change. By buying the highest quality offsets from projects that deliver true additional savings they can make a difference and balance your carbon impact on the environment.
They balance the effect of the carbon emitted from their flight by supporting UN certified projects like Perlabi Hydroelectric in Ecuador.

C. What makes this company really inspiring to you and why would you trust it?

May be it is not the company that makes you dream of but it is a company in a business which is operating in a business where the attention to the environment has to be crucial. And what really makes the difference is that they showed that changing is possible. They are doing a first step to change things, which is valuable. Plus, the CEO of the company, Carolyn McCall, is a woman who gives that sense of ethics that is often lacking in some companies. To give a clear example in all the flight of June 2012 from Italy to any European destination they were giving donations to people who suffered from an earthquake. It can resemble a buzz marketing campaign to be known but to me it seems a genuine gesture to sustain weak people.

D.What are the possible challenges facing the company in the future and how do you think this company may improve?

Emissions are a plague for the environment. The challenge is to reduce emission even more, investing in no polluted technologies. I hope in future they will get rid of the use of oil, finding alternatives energy.