Air Caraïbes and French Bee become the first Green Pilot® certified airlines for their commitment to sustainability

PARIS, Nov. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Air Caraïbes and French Bee announced today, during the COP26, that they became the first airlines in the world to be fully Green Pilot® certified. This new label recognizes airlines that have developed a robust carbon-reducing program in their operations and have actively engaged all their employees in their green policy.

The Green Pilot® certification has been designed to meet the growing demand from airlines leaders to assess, support, and improve their fuel efficiency program. This demanding certification evaluates the quality of the green policy implemented in an airline's operations and employees' commitment to this strategy.

With a thorough and transparent evaluation on training, application of fuel-saving best practices, communication, CSR, and implication in collaborative projects with the airline's ecosystem, the Green Pilot® certification assesses that airlines meet the highest standards of environmental best practices, public transparency, and employee engagement.
As part of the program, once the airline is certified, educational materials are distributed to employees to improve their awareness of fuel best practices, increase the green culture and further reduce CO₂ emissions.

"We are truly honored to be the first airlines to be certified. This is a significant milestone for Air Caraïbes and French bee, as we always strive to meet higher standards in terms of green excellence, and we wanted to increase awareness inside our organization. We are very proud of our achievements and in particular of the creation of a Green Team within our teams, but we are also pleased to benefit from the help of the program to identify further opportunities for improvement," said Marc Rochet, CEO of Air Caraïbes and President of French bee.

"This achievement is in line with the French Bee team's commitment to conduct all operations in an environmentally responsible manner. We are very pleased to have completed the Green Pilot® Certification, thanks to the active involvement of our teams. This certification will help us involve everybody in the company in achieving more fuel savings while preserving the planet," said Marc Rochet, CEO of Air Caraïbes and Président of French bee.

"I am impressed to see how seriously the two airlines have taken their certification journey, making them the first airlines to earn this level of recognition. This certification is a logical continuity of the Green Pilot® movement launched at the end of 2020 that gathers a community of pilots and airline workers concerned about the state of the planet. Airlines also wanted to participate in the initiative, but we needed to ensure that they were highly committed to reducing their carbon footprint. We are very proud to see that Air Caraïbes and French Bee had a very positive score on their evaluation, reaffirming their leading position in green aviation. With the certification in place, we are confident they will continue to improve their operations' efficiency and get all the team on board,"  said Alexandre Feray, CEO & Founder Green Pilot.

About Green Pilot®:

Initiated by OpenAirlines, the leading eco-flying solution provider, and supported by Bertrand Piccard and the Solar Impulse Foundation, Green Pilot® is a collective movement of airline professionals concerned about climate change and committed to promoting green actions to reduce aviation impact. www.greenpilots.com

Airlines can freely self-assess their compliance with the certification standards at https://www.greenpilots.com/green-pilot-certification/

About French bee

France's leading long-haul airline, French bee (formerly French blue) is a subsidiary of the Dubreuil Group. The company offers 10 flights per week to Reunion Island from Paris-Orly 4, and 3 flights per week to Tahiti, French Polynesia, and San Francisco in the United States.  Since July 14, 2021, French bee also connect Paris to New York.

French bee operates a fleet of 4 Airbus A350 aircrafts under the French flag. www.frenchbee.com

About Air Caraïbes

French airline and Caribbean specialist, Air Caraïbes employs 1105 staff. In 2019, the airline carried 1.66 million passengers.

For the summer of 2021, Air Caraïbes is rolling out a dense programme of flights to the Caribbean and Guyana at attractive fares.

Air Caraïbes relies on a modern and efficient fleet of 10 Airbus (A330, A350-900 and A350-1000) and 3 ATR 72-600 to operate its network. The airline has adapted the schedules of its regional network to offer passengers from mainland France fast connections to some of its destinations: Saint-Martin (Grand Case), Saint-Barthélemy (service operated by St Barth Commuter).

Air Caraïbes is also the first French airline to connect the provinces and Belgium to the Caribbean from Orly thanks to the Train + Air eco-mobile solution. The airline also offers an air-sea link to the islands of Marie-Galante, Les Saintes and Dominica with navigAIR.

For more information: www.aircaraibes.com or by telephone on 0820 835 835 (€0.12/min. Rate in force from a fixed line in France subject to change).

About Dubreuil Group

The Dubreuil Group is a family-owned holding company in Belleville sur Vie, France that operates airlines through its subsidiaries. French bee is a sister company of Air Caraïbes within the Dubreuil Group's airline division. The Dubreuil group expects to have a consolidated turnover of 2.2 billion euros in 2021. Three quarters of the turnover will be generated by the Distribution business and the remaining third by the Aerial business: Automotive (42% of turnover), Energy (8%), Public Works (12%), Agricultural Machinery (11%), Heavy Goods Vehicles (1.5%), Hotels and Real Estate (0.5%), and Air Transport with Air Caraïbes and French bee (25%). www.groupedubreuil.com

Contact:

Solveig Moisan,
solveig.moisan@openairlines.com

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1683505/French_Bee_Logo.jpg