Virgin Atlantic Seat Covers Worn Again

Virgin Atlantic seems to take its promise seriously that it wants to become the most environmentally friendly airline in a few years. Following biofuel based flight test promises, their latest new initiative is based around the remodeling of their economy cabin. The remodeling means new seat covers among many other things, which would be thrown away – would they not be so environmentally responsible.

But they are, thus they have teamed up with Worn Again to recycle those seat covers. Worn Again is a company producing consumer goods – mostly fashionable footwear and accessories from already worn down materials such as military tents, used car tyres, seatbelts, etc. And now they have added to their Ingredients the worn down aircraft seat covers from Virgin Atlantic. To celebrate this partnership, they have rolled out a new fashion line called Worn Again Virgin – all the models in this range include some used seat-cover material. The Worn Again Virgin range, which includes the ‘Ollie’ wash bag, the ‘Sherman’ male messenger bag, ‘Lydia’ and ‘Romero’ ladies handbags are available to buy from 1 September 2008. The bags include an ‘Ingredients’ label which lists the all the materials that make up the bags – such as Virgin Atlantic seat covers, car safety belts, Glastonbury tents and bicycle tyres.

Virgin Seat Covers Recycled to Worn Again Lydia Bags (background picture from airliners.net - by Frans Zwart)

Lysette Gauna, Creative Director for Virgin Atlantic, commented: “Virgin Atlantic is committed to taking practical steps to make its business as sustainable as possible. From investing in new technologies, to lobbying the aircraft manufacturers, through to championing new ideas – we believe that actions speak louder than words. This is a fun and creative way to recycle our waste and we are sure these fabulous limited edition bags will be very popular as well as giving people the chance to own a little piece of Virgin Atlantic history.”

Waste reduction is a big focus for Virgin Atlantic. The airline has successfully reduced the waste it produces in its offices and ground operations significantly and continues to work hard to reduce the waste it produces in the air. The airline has set itself a very ambitious target to reduce the waste it sends to landfill from its aircraft by 50% by 2012.

Worn Again Virgin Charlie Bag

A total of 2000 limited edition bags has already been produced in Portugal with materials from approximately 1000 seats. The materials were donated by Virgin Atlantic to Worn Again following the refit of its economy cabin. Worn Again Virgin bags will be available at Terra Plana stores around the world and on the Worn Again website.

by balint01

Airbus A380 Flies On Alternative Fuel

As AirlineWorld has reported last year, Boeing had earlier announced two test flights with alternative fuel to be conducted together with Air New Zealand sometime through 2008 (later a similar plan was announced in cooperation with Virgin Atlantic) . As a slap in the face, Airbus earlier this week announced that they have successfully carried out a similar test one week ago, on Friday, 01FEB2008, becoming the first ever commercial flight using such fuel.

As ATW and Airbus have reported, Airbus operated this test flight using a liquid fuel processed from gas on its new, supposedly currently most eco-friendly super-jumbo, the A380 (test aircraft A380 MSN004). The commercial aircraft was partially powered by an alternative fuel. The Gas to Liquids (GTL) test flight between two of Aribus’s operational bases from Filton, UK to Toulouse, France lasted 3 hr. During the flight, engine number one of four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines was fed with a blend of GTL and jet fuel while the remaining three consumed regular standard jet fuel. Shell International Petroleum provided the GTL. During the test flight, they have tested maximum throttle, maximum flight altitude, and maximum speed as well.

The test, which the manufacturer said was the first of several of its kind that it will conduct, was in accordance with the agreement it signed in November 2007 with the Qatar GTL consortium partners, which include Qatar Airways, Rolls-Royce, Qatar Petroleum, Shell, Qatar Science & Technology Park and Woqod Qatar Fuel Co. “This is the first step of a long-term Airbus testing phase to evaluate viable and sustainable alternative fuels for the future,” the company said. “GTL could be available at certain locations to make it a practical and viable drop-in alternative fuel for commercial aviation in the short term. GTL has attractive characteristics for local air quality, as well as some benefits in terms of aircraft fuel burn relative to existing jet fuel.” GTL is virtually free of sulphur, it noted. Qatar Airways has a target to become the first airline in the world to use such a synthetic fuel in their everyday operations.

Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders called the flight “a great achievement,” adding: “Fuel and environment are key challenges aviation is facing and for which technology and international research collaboration open up new horizons. Our alternative fuels roadmap requires innovation, diversity of ideas and options that need to be explored.”

The official video of the test flight by Airbus can be viewed here. 

by balint01