If you are one of those who spend hours and hours looking for trips and are curious, you may have noticed that the Skyscanner search engine has a tab that says “ECO”. If you have seen it on a flight, you may have clicked on it to discover what information it hid.
It is a qualification that Skyscanner grants to some flights, since according to their calculations that trip is ecofriendly. That is, that itinerary emits fewer CO2 emissions than other options presented in the search results.
What does the ECO rating mean?
The ECO rating gives travelers an indication of the climate impact of the flight options they see and recommends the most environmentally friendly option. And is that, according to the European Environment Agency, the plane is one of the means of transport that emits more carbon dioxide based on the average number of passengers.
That is why Skyscanner, one of the most used flight search engines, calculates the CO2 eco rating for future travelers to buy responsibly and being aware of what each displacement implies.
How is the CO2 emitted on a flight calculated?
To calculate the CO2 emitted on a flight, Skyscanner has developed a calculation that analyzes the different trips based on the distance traveled, the number of stops, the seating capacity and the fuel efficiency of the airplane type. This allows you to calculate which flight uses less fuel per seat and, therefore, has the highest ECO rating.
All these parameters are included in the ECO calculation so that the data obtained is as accurate as possible. However, the website itself indicates that on some occasions the approximations based on the respective routes and airlines are used and, therefore, as the industry data improves (such as the information on seat occupancy in the airplane), the quality of the calculation will also improve.
What flights tend to be ECO?
This is not always the case, but often the flight that is more respectful with the environment is one of the cheapest options. The airlines that usually have the highest ECO rating are those with the newest fleets, since they are models with greater fuel efficiency. This helps the airline reduce fuel costs and also decreases the amount of emissions released for each flight.
Also, in general, it is better to fly a short distance than a long distance, but it is also better to fly straight, since the part where you spend more fuel is during takeoff.
On the other hand, the configuration and occupation of seats (although they are not currently included in the calculation of Skyscanner) also play a role in the emissions: the more seats are occupied in an airplane, the lower the fuel consumption per person in the flight.
Calculate the CO2 emissions of your flights
If the flight you have booked has not received the ECO rating from Skyscanner, but you are also interested in knowing the CO2 emissions of your flights, you can do it in different ways. For example, Iberia allows you to calculate them from the section of your reservation on the web. This initiative is part of Iberia’s strategy against Climate Change, with which the company offers this service with the objective of transparently reporting on the carbon footprint of its trips.
There are also a multitude of online tools that also allow to do so, either in an almost exact or approximate way (depending on the data provided). As an example, we recommend you:
All of them are tools and initiatives that provide information to travelers so they can make responsible or informed decisions, if they wish.
