Avantair Shows Its Green Side

Carbon Offsets Set New Company Milestone for Earth Day
Go Green - Environment and Profits!

Avantair, Inc., the only publicly traded company that is (still) stand-alone, is an industry leader in the aircraft fractional aircraft ownership category as previously reported. They have also recently announced that, since 2007, they offset 15 million pounds of CO2 through their Flight TerraPass program. For 2012, the company expects to do more of the same. Avantair shows that companies can go green and, in the process, still earn plenty of it.

When compared to the fleets of other fractional providers - e.g. Flexjet's Learjets - Avantair’s fleet of Piaggio Avantis produces the lowest amount of carbon emissions in the industry. Advanced engineering on the plane ensures that CO2 emissions are reduced by roughly 35% versus other fractional operators.

While it is certainly easy to debate the macro-economic value of carbon "offsets", what is not debatable is the related positive PR and intrinsic value of the recent announcement to Avantair. (Heck, they have me blogging about it.)

Green Profits and Golden Sunsets

Avantair's CEO Steven Santo was recently quoted as saying...

“The green aspects of our aircraft are an important attribute for our customers. We recognize that while flying privately is a choice, acting responsibly for the environment is a collective obligation. We value our relationship with TerraPass and encourage all businesses to be concerned about the environmental impact of their operations.”

Those sure are some pretty good words to live by. It should also be noted that Avantair was the first fractional company to offset carbon emissions by including related credits for all new owners. TerraPass offsets/credits ultimately fund three types of programs - clean energy, farm power and landfill gas capture. At a minimum, Avaintair gets high marks for doing the right thing for both the environment and shareholders.

Source: Enhanced Online News