Star Alliance to Help Conservation Groups

The Star Alliance has agreed to help conservation groups in the hope of adding legitimacy to its environmental views, the airline alliance said in Denmark.

Under a Biosphere Connections deal with UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Program, the World Conservation Union, World Heritage sites and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Star will assist field workers … with transport to relevant meetings, conferences and events, it said.

It will also promote conservation and sustainable use throughout (its) extensive communications distribution systems, including in-flight and online media.

The environment is the single most important question for aviation to deal with right now in order to achieve sustainable growth, SAS Group Chief Executive Officer Mats Jansson said at an event in Copenhagen marking the alliance’s 10th anniversary.

Besides playing a role in environmental protection, the conservation-group deal gives Star greater legitimacy when calling for more reasonable analysis of aviation’s environmental damage, Air Transport World reported Wednesday.

Lufthansa Chief Executive Officer Wolfgang Mayrhuber said he was glad the alliance was taking a proactive role.

We now have the one-time chance to grab (the environmental debate) and really come down with facts and figures and opportunities that we would like to use in the future, he said.