Etihad Airways Launches Green Loyalty Programme

Ten days after Qantas launched the world first green flyers initiative, Etihad Guest has launched a series of sustainability-focused initiatives to reward members for making “green” decisions and provide solutions for members to lower their carbon footprint.

Conscious Choices, Etihad Airways’ award-winning loyalty program’s expanded range of sustainable initiatives, was established to assist Etihad’s overarching sustainability aim of achieving nett zero emissions by 2050 and halving 2019 emissions by 2035.

Travellers who want to travel and spend more consciously and sustainably can now earn Tier Miles and other benefits for making environmentally friendly decisions.

Conscious Choices offers Etihad Guest members with Tier Miles and additional perks for carrying less baggage on board and offsetting their flights’ carbon emissions using Etihad Guest Miles, allowing them to travel with a less carbon footprint.

Members can earn Tier Miles in their everyday lives, when they are not flying, by offsetting everyday emissions such as driving, with options ranging from one month to one year worth of offsets, as well as emissions such as cooling your home or cooking your dinner for a month up to a year; donating miles to a green cause; and purchasing sustainable products from the Etihad Guest Reward Shop in partnership with Collinson and CarbonClick.

Members can also ‘go green’ by choosing a digital membership card rather than a physical one. Rewarding members with Tier Miles assists them in maintaining their current tier or upgrading to the next tier to access even more perks.

Members’ sustainable behaviours are now being tracked to be rewarded for using Miles to offset their flights and purchasing sustainable products in the Reward Shop. At the same time, the entire programme and perks will be available in January 2022.

“Etihad’s commitment to sustainability sits at the foundation of our business,” said Tony Douglas, group chief executive officer of Etihad Aviation Group. “We’re happy to welcome our eight million members to join us on this path to sustainability.”

Giving our members the chance to offset their travel or shopping sustainably and be rewarded for it strengthens the Etihad sustainability initiative.

While Etihad has focused on developing technology and new solutions for operational efficiency that will actively cut CO2 emissions from flying, we have also prioritised the passenger.

To that end, we have spent the last year developing our sustainable loyalty programme, listening to member feedback, and taking their travel priorities and expectations into account. “Through this, we have refined a programme that will provide members with the ability and incentive to travel more sustainably while reinforcing our position as a planet-conscious travel and lifestyle brand.”

Despite the challenges of Covid-19, Etihad has introduced several significant CO2 reduction efforts within its Greenliner sustainability programme over the last two years.

Adopting thousands of mangroves, using sustainable fuels, decreasing contrails, flying optimised air paths, operating more electric vehicles, and collaborating with partners who share its objective for cleaner skies are all part of this.

Etihad expanded its strategic sustainability programme during the recent Dubai Airshow, bringing together industry giants like Boeing, Airbus, GE, and Rolls-Royce in the most comprehensive, cross-organisational aviation sustainability endeavour ever undertaken.

Etihad operated its most sustainable flight ever in October, harnessing the learnings and efficiencies achieved over the previous two years to reduce carbon emissions by 72% in absolute terms compared to the similar route operated in 2019.

The EY20 Sustainable Flight is a model of the future of commercial air travel.

Sustainability has remained on the agenda during the pandemic, demonstrating how important the matter is to Etihad.