No-frills flying emerges as air travel's painful, greener future

Cutting emissions is once again sector’s top challenge as global air travel recovers

Densely packed aircraft, little legroom and no free drinks. It is starting to look like the uncomfortable travel for more and more passengers as airlines race to decarbonise.

reality of global air The spartan cabins and fuss-free service of low-cost carriers appeared half a century ago, a makeover that made flying affordable to the masses. Since Southwest Airlines first took off from Dallas in 1971, dozens of budget peers including Ryanair Holdings, AirAsia and India's IndiGo have emerged to take on more pricey legacy carriers.

With global air travel almost completely recovered from the pandemic, cutting emissions is once again the industry's No. 1 challenge. The low-cost, low-luxury business model that democratised air travel in recent decades has now become an unlikely template for reducing pollution.

This is because budget airlines' obsession with lowering weight in order to save fuel - by installing paper-thin seats, ripping out business-class thrones and ditching heavy extras like booze and blankets also happens to produce the best emissions metrics in the skies. 

The five airlines in the world that emit the fewest pollutants per passenger are all low-cost carriers, according to data from carbon-reduction advisory firm Envest Global.

Wizz Air Holdings, the Hungary-based carrier that mostly serves Europe and the Middle East, leads the pack. Major brands including Delta Air Lines, Cathay Pacific Airways and British Airways, which is owned by IAG, belch out almost twice the amount of emissions for every passenger they carry, the data shows.