Fly Green with www.flightplanners.co.uk

Added: (Fri Sep 01 2006)

Pressbox (Press Release) - FlightPlanners.co.uk, an online travel agency providing flights from the UK to worldwide destinations, is pleased to announce the go-live of its “Carbon Zero” programme.

This facility allows customers booking online or through its Isle of Wight call centre, to make an additional payment to be used for managed forestry or energy efficiency programs which effectively offset the amount of carbon dioxide their flight will produce.

One of the prime concerns of FlightPlanners.co.uk was that all money collected should go into schemes that are fully “additional”. For a scheme to be described as additional, the benefit of the activity taking place must not have occurred without the investment of the client’s funds. If funds from clients seeking to offset carbon dioxide are invested in a project that would have happened regardless of the client’s investment, it is not additional. If a scheme is not additional, it cannot legitimately be used for carbon offsetting as the benefit accruing from it will occur regardless of the investment of the client’s funds.

The calculation of the amount of CO2 and the offset price -carried out by co2balance.com and validated by Bournemouth University’s School of Conservation Sciences - is based on the departure and arrival airports and is seamlessly integrated into the online booking process. The customer contribution option has been created as an op-out, rather than opt-in scheme, in an effort to encourage customers to use the facility.

FlightPlanners.co.uk managing director George Georgiou says, “We are providing our customers with the opportunity to offset their CO2 emissions in full or in a first for the online travel industry, they can opt to offset a lesser amount more in line with their budget.”

Furthermore, “We are extremely pleased to be leading the way in raising awareness and providing environmentally friendly options for customers, whilst at the same time maintaining consumer choice without hindering our competitiveness.”

FlightPlanners.co.uk was established in 2005 by George Georgiou and Andrew Sims in the belief they could deliver better service with a lower cost base than existing travel websites. As a member of the Freedom Travel Group, the management team of FlightPlanners.co.uk has been freed to concentrate on the growth of the company and the development of its website and IT infrastructure, whilst all back office activities are managed by the Freedom Travel Group.

FlightPlanners.co.uk runs on a custom built software platform that keeps hardware, software and maintenance costs to a minimum, whilst allowing maximum flexibility to react to market trends.

FlightPlanners.co.uk
Contact: George Georgiou, 08704 606 500
Email: george@flightplanners.co.uk
Website: www.flightplanners.co.uk

co2balance.com
Contact: Paul Chiplen, 0783 7766 020
Email: paul.chiplen@co2balance.com
Website: www.co2balance.com