The History Of British Airways Plc

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility can be defined as the economic, legal, ethical and discretionary expectations that society has of the organizations at any given point in time. Quote and cite. Also give definition of stakeholders

In the modern world companies have increasingly become aware of policies that need to consider the various stakeholders of the companies and not just the shareholders or the owners of the companies. Corporations have found it necessary to apply CSR policies not just because they have moral or legal obligation, but out of necessity. They have sensed an urge to give back to the society and all other stakeholders affected by the company’s policies and processes. But how does application of these CSR policies and programs affect the society or the stakeholders in general?? And is it enough to pursue CSR policies or is just a cost that the company incurs in the modern world?

The aim of this essay is to find out what are the positives and negatives of CSR policies when they are applied by the airline industry, and how it affects the various stakeholders in developing and developed nations when these policies are applied. It is to show the necessity of using CSR policies. It will help to determine how stakeholders are positively and negatively affected by the CSR policies. I have chosen a company from a developed nation and a developing nation, in order to see if these policies work similarly in two different business environments, and how whether it affects the stakeholders differently.

My choices are British airways Plc. from the United Kingdom, and Kenya Airways Plc. from Kenya. I have chosen these two companies because they are market leaders in their respective markets, as well as both run convincing corporate social responsibility programs in their countries. This is will also help us determine if CSR applies uniformly to different business environments, and how the state of the economy of a nation determines the choice of CSR policies. My main focus is going to be the various corporate social responsibility policies and programs these companies undertake and how these policies have impacted the company’s stakeholders, and whether these are convincing enough to pursue further CSR policies.

British Airways Plc.

British Airways is the largest airlines operator in the United Kingdom in terms of the fleet size. It is the flag bearing airline of the UK. It is one of the two members of the International Airlines group, the second the Spanish Iberia airlines. It provides passenger and freight services to around 150 destinations in around 72 countries. In 2004/2005, it carried over 35million passengers and almost 900000 tonnes of cargo.

British airways has developed a program known as One Destination, a corporate responsibility program that ensures issues concerning the impact on the environment, on local communities and on their health while on board and growth, are dealt in a responsible and sustainable manner. This program was initiated to deal with all issues concerning the environment, the community, the heath and well being of the consumers as well as the issue of diversity and inclusion within the company, and this was the basis on which the program was formed.

In order to improve awareness in the areas concerned they have begun to host various events such as the annual corporate responsibility seminar, the British airways annual debate and so on. The company has shown commitment to this project, and it suggests that it has already secured the resources required to maintain the commitment to its One Destination program despite the current economic uncertainties.

I will now look at the CSR policies and programs that british airways has done under the onedestination program and whether or not this has helped the society at large.

The onedestination program is formed to look at four main points that british airways has stated and we shall now see how each has affected the stakeholders that are concerned.

the environment- british airways strategies focus on reducing the impact of their business on the environment. Their plan focuses on key areas of climate change, air quality, noise of the aircraft, management of waste and fuel efficiency.

Community- this aims at concentrating on delivering humanitarian and financial support to various initiatives in the united kingdom as well as many other countries that they serve. Their key areas of focus are education, conservation projects, community projects and flying start ( their flagship charity partnership launched in june 2010).

Marketplace- this is the strategy that is based on responsible air travel, where attention is given to the recycling of waste, sustainability of the supply chain as well as carbon offsetting. They ensure that suppliers follow corporate social responsibility programs as well so as to enhance the customer experience. There is also a team set up to cater for the needs of customers who have any additional needs and mobility issues.

Workplace- this aims at integrating the CSR principles throughout the corporation. A diversity team has been set up to advice and train on discrimination laws as well as all other unacceptable behaviurs so as to improve the workplace.

I will now look into detail how each of the programs has affected various stakeholders of the corporation.

The environment

The airline industry is said to produce 2% of all carbondioxide emissions in the world. We are facing the issue of climate change due to the excess emissions of carbondioxide in the atmosphere. British airways has taken steps to reduce their effect on the environment. They have introduced an extensive climate change program which includes external and internal activities. The external activities of this program include working with the global airline industry as well as governments to ensure regulations on climate change being enforced on the industry at large so as to have a reduction on emissions on a larger scale. Their internal activities include reducing their airlines emission of carbondioxide by using carbon saving initiatives, application of biofuels as well as purchasing a new fleet. All these are efforts made by british airways in the aim to reduce the impact of their business on the ever changing climate of the earth. We will now look at the extensive program that british airways has applied in their CSR program for the preservation of the environment.

Climate change and the EU emissions trading system

British airways plays a leading role in the effort to keep the global climate safe by promoting global climate policy which is effective and cost efficient. Their efforts are to ensure that policies are made that will make all airlines in the world follow similar environmental policies for reducing the carbon emissions made by the industry in general, known as the Global Sectoral effort. Such efforts have yielded positive results, where by the EU has now started to record the amount of carbondioxide emmited by airlines flying in and out of the European union, and it is overseen by the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), which also oversees ground emissions from power stations and other industries. EU ETS sets a cap or a limit to the amount of greenhouse gases allowed to be emitted by the operators. Once the cap has been crossed or if the limit is reached the operators are supposed to buy additional allowances so as to permit them to fly in and out of the EU.

These efforts have yielded beneficiary to the environment in general because of the efforts of CSR policies, as companies have now started to ensure they do not cross a certain limit in their emissions or else it would prove costly to the organizations. This has given financial incentives to the airline industry to be as carbon conscious and fuel efficient as possible, hence ensuring reduction of emissions over time, with the least cost to the society.

British airways one destination carbon fund

British airways collects donations from the society and uses the donation for supporting renewable and energy efficient projects for the local communities in the uk. The money funds various projects in the society that help the community as well as promote renewable means of energy, thus protecting the environment at the same time. Examples of such projects are Ospreys Leisure Centre, where british airways funded a 10kW solar array to produce electricity for the centre. This helped reduce cost for the charitable organization that was operating the centre by reducing their operating costs, and thus being able to invest in other resources over time to help the disabled. An example of another project is the fenham swimming pool which has served the local community for people of all ages and abilities since 1983 and british airways installed a solar heated hot water system, ensuring clean enery is used and helping the community

We therefore see that the effort British airways is pursuing to fulfill its CSR policies is not just a cost to them, but it’s a support to the society as well as the environment in general.

Use of biofuels

Airlines use jet fuel that is combusted to give the aircrafts power to fly. The combustion process of the jet fuel is what releases carbondioxide and makes for 99% of the carbon footprint. British airways invests in the research of using other sustainable sources of fuel and also partners with other organizations to find alternative means of power, and examples of such projects are as follow

Solena- works with us technology company, and is in the process of developing europe’s first sustainable biomass to liquid biojet plant, converting waste materials into sustainable fuel.

Rolls Royce- BA is conducting tests with rolls Royce on aviation fuels that are sustainable and can be used as an alterative for jet fuel.

The sea green project- BA is looking to produce algae on a commercial scale that can be used to make sustainable biojet fuel.

Resource management

British airways has made efforts to use their resources as efficiently and effectively as possible in a sustainable manner. They also ensure that their suppliers also follow policies that do not lead to wastage of important resources. Their efforts on managing the waste they create as well as the forest footprint they have is as follows:

Waste management

British airways recognizes the effects of not disposing or treating waste properly and how they will affect the environment and ecosystem in general. Thus they have set policies on how they deal with the waste they produce by recycling as much waste as they can and processing all the non-recyclable waste by other preferred methods. At the moment, they recycle almost 50% of all the waste they create at Heathrow and Gatwick international airports. Non-recyclable waste is processed through the waste-to-energy plant. They have reduced the amount of waste that they sand to landfill to 3% only. The onboard waste is recycled as much as possible. They also work closely with suppliers such as their catering partners to reduce the amount of catering wastes from flights as well as suggesting as much use of sustainable ingredients as possible. Their engineering department recycles almost 85% of their waste and this is mostly achieved due to the use of refurbished part and recycled materials.

Forest management-

The forests of the world nurture a lot of different ecosystems of various plants and animals as well as being responsible to bringing rain in the world and reducing the carbondioxide from the air. Global deforestation is growing yearly at a very alarming rate of 13million hectares destroyed per year and this causes a major issue in the rise of the carbon content in the atmosphere as the carbondioxide doesn’t get recycled.

British airways has been the first airlines to participate in the forest footprint project, that helps identify the total deforestation that an organization causes either directly or indirectly. They have estimated based on their current products to have a forest footprint of 127 acres and by knowing this, BA now will set their plans in order to ensure that they plant that much forest back and maybe more. This effort of BA shows that they are responsible and are investing back in the community proving they are very effective in their business methods and are responsible citizens proving that application of CSR policies is essential for the stakeholders involved.

Community

British airways has built up strong community partnerships in the environment they operate in. they have time and again participated in activities that benefit the communities they live in and taken initiatives to help those in need, both in the uk aswell overseas. They concentrate their efforts in education, youth development, colleague engagement, conservation and emergencies.

Community engagement

BA supports communities in which it conducts its business. They have 3 programs to support the community which are:

Flying start- where the customers and fundraisers donate money which helps the communities to invest in sustainable energy sources and renewable means of energy.

Community learning centre- BA works with various organizations that provide a variety of learning and educational activities that are hosted at the community learning center.

Community and conservation program- BA helps a number of charitable organizations throughout the world with offering flight bursaries,excess baggage, merchandise as well as cargo services.