Etihad ads banned over ‘misleading’ and exaggerated claims on environmental benefits of flying with airline

Adverts for Etihad airline have been banned over making exaggerated claims about its efforts to achieve “sustainable aviation” when it makes a “substantial contribution to climate change”.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) investigated whether two Facebook ads, seen in October last year, were misleading for exaggerating the environmental benefits of flying with Etihad.

The ads said the airline understood “the impact flying has on the environment” and that it was taking a “louder, bolder approach to sustainable aviation”.

The videos included images of an Etihad Guest Miles card with a plant coming out of it and claimed it was cutting back on single-use plastic while flying modern and efficient planes.

Etihad said the claim of “sustainable aviation” was not intended to be understood as an absolute solution to the environmental impact of aviation, but rather as being understood as a long-term and multi-faceted process.

The airline also said it had received several awards which were evidence of its “louder, bolder approach to sustainable aviation”.

However, the ASA ruled that initiatives such as reducing single-use plastics and using more efficient aircraft were not enough to substantiate the “sustainable aviation” claim.

The regulator said the airline had “no initiatives or commercially viable technologies” which would “substantiate an absolute green claim.”

It said: “We acknowledged Etihad’s comments about the use of modern aircraft and flight practices to reduce emissions. We understood, however, that air travel continued to produce high levels of CO2 and non-CO2 emissions which were making a substantial contribution to climate change.

“While we noted steps were being taken by Etihad to reduce the environmental impact of its service, we understood that there were currently no initiatives or commercially viable technologies in operation within the aviation industry which would adequately substantiate an absolute green claim such as ‘sustainable aviation’ as we considered consumers would interpret it in this context.”

The ASA concluded that the claim “exaggerated the impact that flying with Etihad would have on the environment” and therefore the adverts had breached the code.

Etihad said it is “disappointed” by the decision and it will continue to take “the bold and innovative steps” to “make flying more sustainable”.

The airline said in a statement: “Sustainability is a key priority for Etihad, which runs a comprehensive research and development programme to address aviation decarbonisation, working to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment by investing billions into its fleet of modern, fuel-efficient aircraft, research into sustainable aviation fuels, as well as carbon offsetting and reforestation through the Etihad Mangroves.

“Etihad is proud to have been awarded Environmental Airline of the Year for 2022 in the Airline Excellence Awards, in recognition of the steps it has already taken.”