4AIR, a rating system focused on comprehensive sustainability in private aviation, announced on August 16 the launching of a General Aviation Program aimed at enabling private pilots to offset the impact of their own flight activities. 

The 4AIR General Aviation Program operates through a monthly subscription customised to the type of aircraft, the pilots’ sustainability commitments and their average annual flying hours. 

Once the pilots subscribe to the program, 4AIR General Aviation Program automatically handles all the fulfilment aspects of the programs, calculates the emissions associated with climate change and identifying solutions. 

“4AIR’s goal is to make sustainability easy and accessible for private aviation, and that now includes the general aviation population,” said Kennedy Ricci, 4AIR’s president. “We’ve heard from a number of private pilots, as well as people considering taking up flying, that they worry about the impact of their flights on the environment, especially climate change. 

Our new program empowers individual pilots to offset the impact of their personal flying by supporting the same kind of large-scale sustainability initiatives previously available only to private travel providers and their passengers.”

The program has four increasingly progressive levels that parallel those followed by business jet travel providers. Pilots can participate regardless of whether they own or rent an aircraft and can include multiple aircraft. 

“If your aviation activities generate a carbon footprint, 4AIR can help you mitigate its impact,” said Ricci. “We want to give pilots, aircraft owners and passengers the ability to do the right thing for the environment, and this program does so in a way that is simple and easy to understand, making them part of the solution.”