Etihad Airways Criticized For Making ‘Misleading’ Environmental Claims In Facebook Ads

The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that the Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad Airways made a number of “exaggerated” claims about its environmental credentials and breached the country’s advertising code.

In a decision issued on April 12, the advertising watchdog said the airline had exaggerated the impact that flying with Etihad would have on the environment in two ads it ran on Facebook in October last year.

In the first ad, the airline said “We understand the impact flying has on the environment. That’s why we are taking a louder, bolder approach to sustainable aviation” and talked about customers making “a conscious choice for the planet”.

In the second, it said it was cutting back on single-use plastics on board its aircraft and was “flying the most modern and efficient planes. Flights with a smaller footprint.”

Etihad told the ASA that its claim about “sustainable aviation” was not meant to imply that it offered a complete solution to the environmental impact of flying, but should be understood as a long-term approach, in line with the airline’s aspiration to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

However, the ASA noted that neither ad mentioned Etihad’s aim to achieve net-zero by 2050 or positioned the “sustainable aviation” claim as a long-term aspiration.

In its ruling, the ASA pointed out that air travel continued to produce high levels of carbon dioxide and other emissions which were making a substantial contribution to climate change and that many of the airline’s initiatives “were targeted to only deliver results years or decades into the future”.

Under the UK’s advertising code, environmental claims have to be supported by a high level of substantiation. But the watchdog said there are “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”.

It added that, in its view, “reducing single use plastics and using more efficient aircraft were not adequate substantiation to evidence a ‘sustainable aviation’ claim”.

The ASA has told Etihad it must ensure its ads do not give a misleading impression of the impact of air travel and that it provides “robust substantiation” for any claims it makes in the future.

Etihad issued a statement saying it was “disappointed by ASA’s decision” and said it would continue to take steps to make flying more sustainable than it would otherwise be, including working with aircraft and engine manufacturers, sustainable fuel suppliers and others.

The airline has previously been involved in developing sustainable aviation fuel and taken steps to reduce the use of fuel by testing contrail management mechanisms and optimising aircraft ascents and descents.

The Gulf carrier is not the first airline to fall foul off the ASA with environmental claims made in a marketing campaign. In March, Germany’s Lufthansa was pulled up for making misleading claims about its environmental impact in an ad in June 2022 and the ASA issued a similar ruling about ads by Ireland’s Ryanair
RYAAY
in 2019.