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Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport And Rocky Mountain Institute Offset Air Travel Emissions For Super Bowl LIII Fans

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Super Bowl carbon offsets to help Georgia turn trash into energy.

Boulder, CO (PRWEB) – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is partnering with Rocky Mountain Instituteand The Good Traveler to offset air travel by 18,000 metric tons of carbon emissions; the equivalent to 1,624 air miles offset for each of the 71,000 fan seats at Mercedes Benz Stadium for Super Bowl LIII on February 3. This is the first Super Bowl in which carbon emissions from the fans’ air travel to the game will be offset.

As one of the largest events in the United States, the number of emissions created by football fans can be tremendous. Every time a fan boards a plane for Super Bowl LIII, they will contribute to ever-increasing levels of CO2 in our atmosphere. Fortunately, The Good Traveler program is offsetting the emissions equivalent of over 115 million air miles, or taking 3,822 cars off the road for a year.

“Reducing and offsetting emissions is an on-going priority for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The Airport has offset over 60,000 tons since 2017”, explains Michael Cheyne, Director of Asset Management and Sustainability at ATL. “We are excited about our partnerships with SB53 and Rocky Mountain Institute managed The Good Traveler Program. Our hope is that future Super Bowls and other major events will build on and exceed our commitment to resiliency.”

Carbon offsets are verified to neutralize the impact of the use of fossil fuels, such as air travel or road travel, by keeping greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere at a project site. Offsets are the only option today (and an easy one) for air travelers to mitigate the CO2 impact of their flights. Flying is carbon intensive and can account for over 80 percent of direct emissions for the Super Bowl.

The fans’ carbon offsets will come from projects that make good use of waste, reduce greenhouse gases, and support the local community. Georgia-based Dalton-Whitfield and Wolfcreek landfill to energy projects reduce carbon pollution and provide a reliable source of renewable energy to local industry while providing enough power for 1500 homes.

For the foreseeable future, the aviation industry will rely on support from passengers, cities, and business to become sustainable through carbon offsets. The industry’s carbon emissions in the U.S. grew at 3 percent last year and global aviation emissions have been growing at about 5 percent annually over the last four years. Without intervention, aviation could comprise over 20 percent of the global carbon budget by mid-century.

RMI manages The Good Traveler program which is the only airport-founded and aviation-focused carbon offset program that empowers airports, organizations, cities, and individuals to mitigate the climate impact of travel. In 2018, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport joined the program’s airport advisory board, which serves 410 million passengers annually, and includes Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Port of Seattle, The Port Authority of New York New Jersey, San Diego International Airport (the program’s founder) and San Francisco International Airport.

“Hartsfield-Jackson and the City of Atlanta have raised the climate leadership bar for professional sports championships,” said Adam Klauber, Principal, Rocky Mountain Institute. “Bold actions from airports can help us avoid relying solely on a desperate Hail Mary-pass to keep our planet below 2°C of warming.”

The City of Atlanta understands the need to reduce those emissions entering our atmosphere and has committed to offset 39,682,800 lbs. of CO2 (18,000 MT) through Rocky Mountain Institute and The Good Traveler.org.

About Rocky Mountain Institute 
Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)—an independent nonprofit founded in 1982—transforms global energy use to create a clean, prosperous, and secure low-carbon future. It engages businesses, communities, institutions, and entrepreneurs to accelerate the adoption of market-based solutions that cost-effectively shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport 
Hartsfield-Jackson (ATL) is the world’s busiest and most efficient airport, serving more than 103 million passengers annually with nonstop service to more than 150 U.S. destination and 70 international destinations in more than 50 countries. ATL boasts a direct economic impact of $34.8 billion in metro Atlanta and a total direct impact of $70.9 billion in Georgia. The Airport is the largest employer in Georgia, with more than 63,000 individuals working on-site. The Airport is a frequent recipient of awards of excellence for concessions, operations, sustainability, architectural engineering and construction. In 2016, ATL set in motion a multibillion-dollar capital improvement program, ATLNext , which will modernize the Domestic Terminal, extend two concourses, construct several parking decks, add a sixth runway, expand cargo facilities, pave the way for a 440-room for a 440-room Intercontinental Hotel with Class A office space, and develop Green Acres ATL Energy Park.

Adverse weather conditions disrupt rail, air travel

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PHOTO: REUTERS

LAHORE: Travellers on Sunday faced difficulties as 13 trains and 12 flights were delayed while 14 in-bound and out-bound flights were cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.

According to details, due to the fog and poor weather conditions in the country, trains moving between Karachi, Quetta, Faisalabad, Peshawar and Rawalpindi reached their destinations hours late while trains that arrived in Lahore from Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta left for their destinations late.

The Awami Express arrived in Lahore from Karachi three hours late. The Iqbal Express arriving from Karachi also reached three hours late while the Jafar Express arriving from Quetta faced a delay of two-and-a-half hours. The Khyber Mail, arriving from Karachi, was 45 minutes late.

The Karachi Express was an hour late while the Business Express was one-and-a-half hours late. The Akbar Express, coming from Quetta, was an hour late while the Karakorum Express coming from Karachi was one-and-a-half hours late. The Tezgam arriving from Karachi was an hour late and so was the Ghori Express coming from Faisalabad.

On the other hand, flights inside and outside the country also faced cancellation and delays.

The cancelled flights included one for Tehran, PIA’s flight 313 to Karachi, China Airline’s flight 6018 to Armachi, PIA’s flight 317 to Karachi, flight 654 for Islamabad, flight 583 to Karachi, flight 656 to Islamabad, flights 307 and 306 to Karachi, flight 655 to Islamabad, flight 582 to Karachi. Flights to Karachi, Islamabad, Multan, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur and Bahawalpur were also cancelled. They included China Airline’s Armachi-bound flight 6017 and PIA’s flight 720 coming from Milan. Air Blue’s flight to Muscat 230 was also cancelled.

The delayed ones included one flight 1195 coming in from Tehran, Emirates’ flight 622 coming from Dubai, PIA’s flight 317 coming from Dubai, Turkish Airline’s flight 715 to Istanbul, PIA’s flight 318 to Riyadh, Etihad Airways’ flight 242 to Abu Dhabi, Emirates’ flight 623 to Dubai, Qatar Airways flight 621 to Doha and a flight bound for Tehran 1194.

The difficulties being faced by the travellers as a result of delay and cancellation of flights are increasing by the day.

New Facial Recognition Technology Could Make Air Travel Much Smoother

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – On Friday, Lufthansa Flight 461 to Munich, Germany out of Miami International Airport became the first flight where passengers could use biometric technology to board the plane.

“For tonight’s flight, we are launching an exciting boarding process that eliminates the need for your boarding card or passport,” said a boarding agent at Gate 17.

That means passengers will no longer have to fumble through their bags, trying to find their documents, or even worse, misplacing them before a flight.

This biometric technology, designed by State Information Technology Agency, or SITA, is a facial recognition service. The photo you take is matched to other photos in the system, such as passport or visa photos along with your information.

“This very quickly gives us a positive ID on the individual,” said Chris Maston with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP.

According to CBP, the process takes less than 2 seconds and has a 99% matching rate. In the 1% chance of error, there are still customers officers and gate agents who can check documentation.

Lester Sola, the aviation director and CEO of Miami International, said 2018 was a record year with more than 45 million travelers. Numbers are predicted to grow and they needed to look toward new technology to make traveling quicker and more efficient.

Biometric technology was presented to him in late 2017. By April 2018, the technology was implemented for some international passengers flying into Miami. Miami International Airport was the first in the country to do so.

“Historically, it may have taken 1 or 1-and-half hour for 500 passengers,” said Sola. “Now it’s about 15-20 minutes.”

For the past year, this was only an option for passengers flying internationally into Miami. Now some airlines will have the technology for passengers as they board a plane to depart.

Some passengers like Nathan Wood and Chandra Seepaul already love the idea.

“It’s nice and quick like us Aussies,” said Wood.

“Less stress, very fast. And then you don’t need to fold your passport and boarding pass in your hand, sometimes you don’t know where you put it,” added Seepaul.

The process is voluntary. Kids who don’t reach the camera are still ineligible. When asked about security or privacy concerns, Wood and Seepaul weren’t deterred.

“The government is already watching us, so if it makes it quicker, that’s easier,” joked Wood.

“No, they take your boarding pass, you stand over there and take a picture,” said Seepaul. “It’s the same system.”

Sherry Stein, the senior manager of Projects and Innovation with SITA, said the information is what the system already has anyway.

“If you have to enter the country, you have to supply that information. It’s nothing new,” said Stein.

So far, the technology is only being used for international travelers at some airlines in select airports – Miami and Orlando being two of them. But that list will quickly expand, according to industry experts.

“The travel industry is growing exponentially. Travel is expected to double. Every day the airports will be like Christmas,” said Stein. “We have to find ways to make the process easier for travelers.”

Stein adds the goal is to use this technology to make the traveling process more streamlined, where you won’t need to show several documents and forms of identifications multiple times while traveling.

Call it curb to gate, reservation to destination, if you ask the CEO of MIA, he calls it the very near future.

“I think before the end of 2019, [biometric technology will be] everywhere,” said Sola. “You’ll have every airport having some form of biometric measures.”

NJ Assembly approves United Airlines jet fuel tax hike

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The state Assembly approved a bill that would effectively hike the gas tax on United Airlines, the largest airline company doing business in New Jersey, in order to finance the extension of the PATH Train to Newark Liberty International Airport.

Senate Bill 2892, sponsored by Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd District, and approved in a 42-31 vote by the Assembly on Thursday, would close a loophole on the four cent jet fuel tax, but it does not specifically mention United Airlines.

Rather, the bill would see the jet fuel tax hike imposed only on flights in and out of New Jersey airports, which is at least 20,000 annual commercial flights, a distinction currently held only by Newark Liberty International Airport, where the majority of flights are by United Airlines.

The bill would boost state revenue by up to $40 million a year, according to a fiscal note from the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services.

The move has drawn heavy criticism from business advocates and executives, as well as United Airlines, who point to the considerable cost of doing business in New Jersey and argue that the proposed use of the jet fuel tax revenue is illegal under federal law.

“United Airlines, along with other carriers serving Newark Liberty International Airport, have made it very clear this misguided bill would make it more expensive for airlines to operate, adding to the cost of doing business in New Jersey resulting in higher costs for everyone—including the people of the Garden State,” Jill Kaplan, president of the New York/New Jersey region for United Airlines, said in a Thursday statement.

United Airlines has pointed to significant direct and ancillary economic investment into the state—$16 billion in 2017, according to a November 2018 report provided to NJBIZ.

“This change to the aviation fuel tax formula would make New Jersey less competitive and hurt efforts to encourage economic growth,” Andrew Musick, vice president of government affairs for the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said in a Thursday statement.

“The expanded tax will cost commercial airlines millions of dollars, and that will drive up the cost of doing businesses in New Jersey, as well as the cost of airfare,” he added.

United made $2 billion of direct investment into Newark airport infrastructure and employed 14,000 airport workers, Kaplan said.

And, Kaplan said, Newark has been the most expensive of United’s six hubs nationwide.

“I want to be very clear, we have choices and we are looking at our choices,” Kaplan said at an October 2018 committee hearing. “We grow in areas where we are able to facilitate the focus of our growth plan.”

Kaplan also said the plan is unlawful under the Federal Aviation Administration’s guidelines, which she said mandates that jet fuel taxes can’t be used for non-aviation purposes.

But supporters of the measure, such as the labor union 32BJ SEIU, say United holds significant amounts of wealth, which it needs to more equitably share.

“Approving this measure is justice for working people in New Jersey and especially for Newark and the communities around the airport,” Kevin Brown, the New Jersey state director for 32BJ SEIU, said in a statement to NJBIZ. “In the face of sizable profits on one hand and a compelling community need for improved infrastructure on the other, the tax loophole that commercial airlines current enjoy in New Jersey stands out as unjustifiable.”

United Airlines introduces Upgraded App

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TAMUNING, GUAM, February 4, 2019 – United Airlines is introducing a reimagined mobile app to customers around the world. Already the top downloaded airline app for Apple and Android phones, the refreshed app now features a more dynamic experience that updates customers at each step of their travel journey, making it the perfect travel companion. The app includes features customers know and love from the previous version, while adding enhancements that make managing travel easier from booking to landing.

“Every day we are using technology to improve our customers’ experience and making more information available to our customers at the swipe of a finger,” said Linda Jojo, executive vice president of technology and chief digital officer at United Airlines. “With this updated app, we set out to bring improvements that are meaningful to all our customers, whether they travel every week or only once a year.”

Customers’ favorite features, such as bag tracking, will continue to be available in the updated app, and new highlights include:
• A navigation bar that gives customers quick access to some of the most popular tools such as flight status, and some new handy features like My Trips.

• A My Trips tab in the navigation bar that allows customers to easily access information about their upcoming trip and stores boarding passes when customers are checked in for their flights.
• An inbox that stores important push notifications United sends customers about their flight, such as if a flight status changes, gate changes and alerts about when boarding for a flight has begun.
• Dynamic boarding times will be updated throughout the app in the event that departure times change to give customers the latest information even when they are not at the gate. This builds on the airline’s recent addition of boarding notifications, which were added when United rolled out its Better Boarding process.

One of the biggest updates to the app comes during the travel period, when the home screen updates to give customers the most helpful information for each step of their travel journey. The home screen will begin to update starting 48 hours before a flight, and will continue updating throughout various phases all the way through arrival at the final destination with the most useful information. For instance, customers connecting will find a screen that allows them to easily access airport maps so they can easily navigate to the next gate. Bringing the most useful information to the forefront will make the entire journey less stressful and more intuitive.

The app also includes an updated design with more engaging content. When a customer does not have an upcoming trip, the app will open to a beautiful destination image to provide travel inspiration. Content on the home screen is also more personalized to each user; for example, customers who recently passed loyalty milestones will be recognized on the home screen, and the app will also celebrate customers on their birthday.

United’s in-house digital team spent over a year designing and creating this updated app, including eight months during which customers and more than 18,000 employees provided feedback to create the final version that rolls out worldwide today. United issued seven releases during the beta test, making numerous changes based on user feedback. There were more than 13,000 check-ins during the beta test period. The airline will continue soliciting feedback on the app and expects to roll out additional features later this year to further improve and ease travel for our customers.

As a technology leader, United was the first carrier to offer mobile boarding passes and became the first to introduce boarding passes and flight information in its app for partner airlines. Customers can access boarding passes and flight information for flights on United’s Star Alliance partner airlines when flights are booked with connecting travel on United on the same itinerary. The airline also made it easier for customers to search for fare classes available in the app with Expert Mode, a popular feature from united.com.

Last year, United updated its digital platforms including the united.com homepage and entire mobile website to make them more dynamic and personalized.

For more information about updates to the app, visit the United Hub.

Wheelchair-bound woman wins lawsuit over United Airlines after injury – WABC

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A Florida woman traveling through Houston won a multi-million dollar lawsuit against United Airlines.

Erica Fulton is disabled and was boarding her flight, when she says a flight attendant, who was helping her to her seat, dropped her, and injured her shoulder.

Fulton was traveling to celebrate her son’s 30th birthday.

“Within 30 minutes of being dropped, she’s there telling United what happened,” attorney Sean Roberts said. “They act like it never happened.”

Roberts represented Fulton in court. He says United claimed they didn’t get wind of this until six weeks after the incident, even though he says their internal call logs shows Fulton reporting it immediately.

Roberts also claims the airline didn’t even investigate the incident.

“That was probably what set this thing along the path of a multi-million dollar verdict, when it should’ve been much lower,” Roberts said.

United Airlines ultimately lost in court, and Fulton was awarded nearly $4 million.

“The way United painted their first-class passenger, as a malingerer and a liar, I’m not surprised with how the jury reacted to that,” Roberts said.

ABC13 reached out to United Airlines about the incident. They responded in an emailed statement:

“Our goal is to provide all of our customers with a safe and comfortable travel experience. We disagree with the court’s ruling and will continue to defend ourselves.”

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Cold weather wreaks havoc on air travel

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HARRISON –

The record-setting cold across the country has already caused more than 2,000 flights to be canceled today.         

More than 800 of those canceled flights were supposed to go through the Chicago area where wind chills have been making it feel like 50-below zero.

There are also dozens of canceled flights in other parts of the Midwest including Detroit and St. Louis.

New York LaGuardia Airport already has dozens of cancellations today due to the extreme weather.

There have been only two cancellations at Westchester County Airport in Harrison.

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Bizman gifts air travel to 120 elderly villagers

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COIMBATORE: M Ravikumar, a successful textile businessman hailing from Devarayampalauam, a small village near Avinashi, was awestruck by his first flight journey five years ago.

“The whole experience, including entering the airport, sitting inside the flight, experiencing the take-off, flying among the clouds, looking down and seeing buildings looking like miniature toys and the landing stunned me,” the 44-year-old man said.

On that day, Ravikumar decided to gift his dear ones the thrill of flying. Thanks to him, 120 people from Devarayampalauam boarded the 3pm Air Indian flight to Chennai from the city airport on Saturday.

The airport wore a festive look when the group got down from two buses and stood in a queue for security clearance. “The group included six generations of my family. As I gave preference to old people, the group had people between the age of 50 and 101 years,” said the beaming businessmen, who could not stop smiling as he helped a 101-year-old grandmother walk into the airport.

The passengers told TOI that the entire village has been celebrating the trip like a festival from the last week. “When Ravi informed us about the trip three months ago, we could not believe our ears. Though he does a lot for us, this trip was something we never expected,” said 57-year-old Valliammal. “The trip is all the village has been talking about, including itinerary, what to expect and things to pack, among others. The whole village turned up to send us off.”

The group does not just include Ravikumar’s relatives, but some neighbours also. “I have no husband or children, who could give me such an experience. I was so scared of flying till I reached the airport. Now I am excited,” said 50-year-old Jamila, a family friend.

Sivagami, a 50-year-old farmer, said she never even dreamt of flying. “I never dreamt of even stepping into an airport.”

The trip cost Ravikumar Rs 4lakh. He struggled a lot to arrange the mammoth trip, he told TOI. “I began planning it five years ago, but because it was such a large group, the ticket prices shot up. Then my uncle, who is working at the airport, suggested this flight, helped apply for senior citizen concession for at least for 20 people,” he said.

The trip includes a visit to Kanchipuram, Vellore and Thiruvannamalai through Saturday evening and Sunday. The passengers will return to Avinashi by bus from Thiruvannamalai on Sunday night.