Green Initiatives at Ryanair - Case Study Example

Green Initiatives at Ryanair of the 10/12/2009 Ryanair Company Profile Ryanair is a low cost European airline founded in 1985. The company is the largest low fare airline operating out of Europe whose product reaches 32 countries with over 800 different routes. As of May 2009 the company had a fleet of 190 new Boeing 737-800 models with 102 additional orders for new aircrafts in place (Ryanair, 2009). The firm has the industry best aircraft replacement rate with their fleet averaging 2.5 years of use which is 8 years better than the industry standard. This enables the company to achieve tremendous gas savings. The company employees over 6,000 workers and provides its travel services nearly 67 million passengers yearly. The company has an organic growth model that has enabled the company to achieve tremendous growth during the last decade. In 1999 the company served less than 5 million passengers. Green initiatives at Ryanair In the 21st century corporate social responsibility has become an important strategic path that companies follow in order to achieve success. Corporate social responsibility can be defined as alignment of a company’s activities with the social, economic, and environmental expectations of its stakeholders (Sourcewatch, 2009). As a low cost airline the company is automatically complying with the economic expectation of its customers. The company is a member of European Low Fares Airline Association. Ryanair has one of the best environmental records in the airline industry. Ryanair selects aircrafts models for its fleet that have the latest and most efficient engine technologies. This green initiative has helped the company reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 45% over the last decade. The firm has further decreased its CO2 emissions during the last 10 years by an additional 10% by optimizing its flight route trajectory. The company does not use flight hopping mechanisms; instead all of its flights are one way destinations directly to the final location. The airline also avoids long taxiing time and holding patterns at primary congested airports (Ryanair, 2009). CO2 emissions are the primary factor that is causing air pollution that leads to the imbalance in the greenhouse effect and global warming. Rising carbon dioxide levels from burning fuel fossils are scientifically linked to sea level changes, snowmelt, disease, heat stress, severe weather, and ocean acidification (Rice, 2008). The company has invested over $17 billion since 1999 in its aircraft replacement program. The aircraft replacement program enabled the company to lower its fuel consumption by 55% between 1998 and 2007 (Ryanair, 2009). The company utilized smart engineering to optimize the functionality of its aircraft. The firm installed winglets in all its planes which help the company reduce gas consumption by a 4% yearly rate. Another environmental friendly practice at Ryanair is its efforts to reduce noise pollution. Academic studies suggest that noise pollution can cause human health issues and interfere with the learning process at educational institutions (Holzman, 1999). The airline is the industry leader at minimizing noise pollution. The installation of winglets to the aircrafts served the dual purpose of reducing fuel consumption and noise pollution. The winglets reduced overall noise pollution at Ryanair by 6.5%. Other operational tactics such as the absence of night operations, selection of airports in remote locations, and complying with local noise restriction helped the company minimize its noise pollution (Ryanair, 2009). Another green practice the company implemented is reduction in waste. The company does not give its customers free meals, drinks, or daily newspapers which reduce the amount of waste generated in each flight in comparison with the competition. The tactic also helps the company keep its ticket prices low. The business philosophy at Ryanair opposes environmental taxation by governmental institutions. ISO 14000 use at Ryanair As the airline industry leader in environmentally friendly practices Ryanair is currently ISO 14001 certified. ISO 14001 is an environmental management standard whose purpose is to help organizations protect the environment, lower pollution, and improve environmental performance (Praxium, 2009). One of the benefits of the certification is that it creates an environmental policy framework that enables continuous improvements. Three additional benefits are reduced cost of waste management, lower distribution costs, and savings in energy and material consumption (ISO, 2009). The ISO 14001 standards helped the company achieve great improvements in CO2 emission minimization, lower fuel consumption, decrease levels of noise pollution, and better waste management. Ryanair could extend the scope of its environmental plan to improve other areas of its business which include ground operations. The company’s vehicle asset inventory includes automobiles and trucks. The company could replace all its ground vehicles for hybrid or electric models. Another way to improve its practices to minimize its effect on the environment is reducing the energy consumption at all of its physical locations. A cheap practice that could saved thousands of dollars in energy consumption is replacing all the lights bulbs with energy efficient bulbs which consumes 1/8 the energy in comparison with traditional light bulbs. The company could also reduce energy consumption by replacing its office equipment such as computers with energy saving models. The use of paper is another area where improvements could occur. Deforestation is one of the causes for global warming. Ryanair should lower its paper consumption and only utilize recycled paper when it has too. The ticket sales function could be transformed to a 100% electronic ticket platform. Any maintenance work of green areas at company facilities could be performed with electric lawnmowers instead of gas lawnmowers (Ecomowers, 2009). According to an EPA study 9% of air pollution is the United States is caused by the use of lawn and garden equipment small engines (Ecomowers, 2009). The ISO 14001 certification is going to enable to company to continue to thrive in environmental friendly practices. The green practices at Ryanair were implemented because the company believes that the corporate world has an obligation to help solve the environmental chaos they created during the last century. Most of the green practices at Ryanair are part of grand strategy that enabled the company to reduce its operation costs. The fact that the company has a modern fleet allows the company to offer its customer greater comfort during flights without incurring in any additional costs. The use of green practices at Ryanair creates brand value for the company which has helped the firm achieve tremendous passenger growth during the last decade. Conclusion The airline industry for years has been a major contributor to the pollution problem our environment is facing. A company that was able to change the trend since its creation in 1985 is Ryanair. This firm has utilized an environmental friendly platform as a catalyst that helped the company achieve tremendous sales growth in the 21st century. The company is the industry leader in environmental practices proven by the fact that the company has the lowest CO2 emissions, lowest fuel consumption per flight, and newest aircraft fleet. The Ryanair business model should be imitated by other companies in the airline industry. References Ecomowers.com (2009). Types of Lawn Mowers Pollution. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://learn.ecomowers.com/tag/emissions/ Holzman, D. (1997). Focus. Environmental Health Perspectives, 105(12). Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://www.ehponline.org/qa/105-12focus/focus.html Iso.org (2009). Business Benefits of ISO 14001. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/management_standards/iso_9000_iso_14000/business_benefits_of_iso_14001.htm Praxiom.com (2009). ISO 14001 2004: Environmental Management Standard Translated to Plain English. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://praxiom.com/iso-14001-2004.htm Rice, D. (2008). Carbon Dioxide rise linked to pollution deaths. USA Today. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2008-02-27-pollution-deaths_N.htm Ryanair.com (2009). About Us. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/about.php?page=About Sourcewatch.com (2009). Corporate Social Responsibility. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Corporate_Social_Responsibility Read More