Five reasons why I haven’t flown for five years – and how to fly less
On 8 September 2024 it was five years since I last travelled by airplane (a holiday to Portugal in case anyone was wondering!). But whenever I mention that I haven’t flown for five years, people often ask me how I’ve done it, so here are my top tips on how to fly less and reduce airplane pollution.
Our Chief Security Officer Roo has also refrained from flying for over five years.
1. Live in London and get a dog
This might be a bit unfair to those who don’t, but living in London is so handy – everyone comes to us! Also it’s really complicated to fly with your dog and I don’t want to go anywhere without Roo, which makes my decisions a lot easier. In addition, my family is in Dublin which is an easy Sail & Rail away (or at least we are working to make it easier to book Sail & Rail journeys!).
2. Enjoy the local
I’ve already seen a lot. In my twenties I did a lot of travel which included a holiday in Afghanistan and Iran (I loved Iran and would totally recommend!). So I’ve already seen some incredible places, but now it comes down to it, I’d rather there are places left with stable climates for my nephews to visit. So, until our shipping and aviation coalition SASHA has ensured that policy makes truly sustainable fuels for aviation a reality, I am not too bothered about continuing to travel to far-flung destinations.
The science is so clear – our chances of keeping any of the coral reefs alive (just as an example) diminish almost daily. How can I justify taking those flights when any serious action on the climate impact of flying has yet to happen?
3. Be militant against work travel
Maybe this will damage my future employment prospects but I’m going to go ahead and declare myself: I hate work travel. You are away from your family, your routine (does anyone ever actually use the gym or eat healthy when on trips?!) and it’s impossible to get your ordinary work done so it piles up waiting your return...
That is not to say I never go on work trips, but I need to be convinced that it is a strategic use of my time. So, I’ve developed a default ‘no’ to work trips but when I go, I go all in! And it seems my smugness at not flying in five years might all end this November when I might fly to Baku for the climate negotiations…
4. When you can’t get out of a trip: travel by train instead of plane!
Our policy on work travel at OG is simple: you must get the train, unless you have express permission from the CEO (me!) to fly. Luckily so far everyone has been enthusiastic about embracing some brilliant slow travel – like Sabrina’s epic trip to Valencia and Carly’s train journey to Berlin.
We have had a few unavoidable flights, one sadly due to train strikes in the UK, so we understand how difficult it is to stop flying completely. However, reducing the number of flights you take is a great start in reducing aviation emissions. And, as flying is the fastest-growing cause of carbon emissions, it’s something simple that everyone can do to play their part in decarbonising the sector. Here are some resources to inspire you on how to fly less:
We Are Possible’s Frequent Flier Levy campaign lays out the impact you can make simply by cutting back on the number of flights you take each year.
Ethical Consumer’s top tips on how to fly less.
“How giving up flying helped me rediscover the world” – a brilliant blog by Helen Coffey, as successful travel writer who has given up flying. If she can, we all can!
The Travel Smart Campaign ranks businesses for their travel emissions and has set the gold standard of what all companies should be doing to reduce those emissions.
5. Start an NGO and get cracking on decarbonising aviation
I’ve been working on aviation decarbonisation for over 10 years, and now that I have set up Opportunity Green, aviation is one of the key sectors we work on.
At OG we are:
Collaborating with companies that are doing the right things on future fuels for aviation through our Skies and Seas Hydrogen-fuels Accelerator (SASHA) Coalition, and putting them in front of the UK & EU government to ensure their views are heard by policymakers.
Ensuring that financing for the aviation sector does not continue to go to fossil fuel planes – we recently sued the EU Commission over its Taxonomy rules on green finance for the aviation sector.
Working to ensure that the aviation sector pays its fair share of taxes, with a fair portion going to the climate vulnerable, who are already impacted by the damage caused by aviation emissions.
What are your top tips for avoiding flying and reducing airplane pollution? How long has it been since you’ve flown? I would love to hear your thoughts – connect with me on LinkedIn to let me know.
