easyJet (EZJ) is set to become the world’s first major airline to operate net-zero carbon flights across its entire network, after announcing it would offset all jet fuel emissions. The British budget airline said it would start offsetting all flights from Tuesday, which it said would cost about £25m in the next financial year through schemes to plant trees or avoid the release of additional carbon dioxide. Johan Lundgren, the airline’s chief executive, said longer-term solutions were also needed. “We recognise that offsetting is only an interim measure, but we want to take action on our carbon emissions now,” he said. “Aviation will have to reinvent itself as quickly as it can.” EasyJet’s move surpasses the recent pledges of rival airlines, including British Airways, whose parent company, IAG, promised last month to be carbon-neutral by 2050 and to start offsetting all domestic flights next year. The German airline group Lufthansa has launched a business fare where European flights are automatically offset for corporate customers from 2020.
The government is set to wave through the £4bn takeover of the British defence company Cobham (COB) by Advent after the US private equity group offered to address national security concerns. The business secretary, Andrea Leadsom, on Tuesday announced that the government would consult on legally binding steps to be taken by Advent, adding she was “minded to accept” the undertakings – despite objections expressed to competition regulators by unnamed parties about the private equity firm’s potential short-term hunt for profits. Advent International and Cobham announced the all-cash deal on 25 July, but the government intervened on 17 September. The MoD expressed concerns that the takeover could expose military information held on Cobham’s systems and that key capabilities could be undermined if Advent decided to exit parts of the business. Cobham, which specialises in the air-to-air refuelling technology used by UK and US military jets, is a supplier to the Ministry of Defence as well as making a broad range of systems for aviation and space industries. However, the Dorset-based company, which employs about 10,000 people worldwide, only earns about 8% of its revenues in the UK. The company’s new owners will be prevented from withdrawing from important military services for five years, as well as ensuring that board structures keep British nationals in charge of key defence services.
