Buzz, Lauda, Malta Air, and Ryanair DAC are all subsidiaries of Ryanair Holdings plc, Europe’s largest airline group. Ryanair claims to be Europe’s cleanest and greenest airline group, with passengers switching to travel with them. In comparison to the other Big 4 EU major airlines, Ryanair can cut CO2 emissions by up to 50%. To what degree do we agree with their concept of a low-carbon airline? 

First and foremost, before I began reading news articles on Ryanair’s greenwashing on carbon emissions, I considered Ryanair to be one of the greatest airlines to fly within the world since it helps to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment. In 2020, reading Mark Sweney’s article in the Guardian newspaper blew my mind and stunned me for a few minutes. According to the Advertising Standards Authority ( ASA), “the ads failed to factor in seating density – the number of seats per plane – which it considered significant information that consumers needed in order to understand the basis of the claim” ( Mark, 2020 ). The ASA ruled that the advertising was deceptive because the airline had failed to back up its environmental claims.

At first, not a single story convinced me that the airline was deceiving the public, so I began more research to learn the truth. Then there came another article in the BBC news which stated that “An airline efficiency ranking used by Ryanair was dated 2011 and was therefore of little value as substantiation for a comparison made in 2019, Consequently, we concluded that the claims ‘Europe’s… Lowest Emissions Airline’ and ‘low CO2 emissions’ were misleading” ( Russel, 2020 ).

It is unfortunate that the airline is only revising its carbon emission claim in Ireland after the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland questioned it. The identical claim is still shown on the website in other countries to deceive customers and enhance Ryanair’s annual income.

References 

Sweeney, M. (2020, February 5). Ryanair accused of greenwash over carbon emissions claim. The Guardian. Retrieved April 09, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/feb/05/ryanair-accused-of-greenwash-over-carbon-emissions-claim

About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://www.ryanair.com/gb/en/useful-info/about-ryanair/about-us

Hotten, R. (2020, February 5). Ryanair rapped over low emissions claims. BBC News. Retrieved April 09, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51372780