Air Chathams' carbon offset journey with TTI and CarbonClick

Integrated voluntary flight offsetting

About Air Chathams

Proudly New Zealand-owned and operated. Flying over the skies of New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific, including Whakatāne, Kāpiti Coast, Whanganui, Wellington, Christchurch, Chatham Islands and Norfolk Island. Air Chathams was founded with a simple objective: to offer aviation solutions for a remote, isolated island community so they could further develop into the thriving economy we see today. They are a customer-focused and solution-orientated airline, who thrive on being innovative problem solvers, that deliver safe, efficient, and sustainable outcomes for the many communities throughout Aotearoa and the Pacific that they serve.

About TTI (Travel Technology Interactive)

Travel Technology Interactive is an international and leading technology company listed on EURONEXT Growth in Paris, has been an AMADEUS IT GROUP worldwide business partner since 2005, and has also been recognized as an IATA Simplifying the Business (StB) Preferred Partner since 2006. TTI provides seamless cloudification for end-to-end Passenger Service Systems (PSS) and Cargo Management Systems (CMS) for the transportation industry. Headquartered in France, TTI offices are located worldwide: in Brazil, Singapore, and Panama. 

The challenge

Air Chathams set out on a mission to shrink their carbon footprint across all facets of their operations. They were eager to involve their customers in this quest and aimed to have 30% of passengers choosing to offset their carbon emissions when booking flights by May 2025.

To reach this ambitious target, they needed a solution that seamlessly integrated into their booking system, which is managed by Passenger Service System (PSS) provider Travel Technology Interactive (TTI). Close collaboration among Air Chathams, TTI, and CarbonClick was essential to create a simple, user-friendly, and integrated solution.

The solution

CarbonClick and TTI joined forces to pioneer the very first end-to-end carbon offset Internet Booking Engine (IBE) solution that is fully integrated into a single PSS. Working closely with Air Chathams, CarbonClick ensured the service's visual and tonal alignment with their booking process, as an integral part of ancillary offerings.

When booking a flight, passengers now have the option to calculate their carbon footprint and learn how their decision to offset emissions contributes to making a positive impact on the planet and society. Every contribution is directly and instantly traceable to the climate projects it supports, providing passengers with a clear and immediate understanding of their positive impact.

The cost of the offset is displayed as a separate line item in the total booking cost. 

The outcome

Traditionally, the extensive time and expense required for such an integrated solution deterred many airlines from implementing similar programmes. As a result, only a handful of global carriers have adopted end-to-end integrated initiatives to date.

The partnership between TTI and CarbonClick empowers all of TTI's airline clients to seamlessly implement the solution and incorporate it into their passenger booking systems in just a matter of days. Air Chathams proudly became the first TTI customer to adopt this innovative carbon offset solution.

Air Chathams customers not only can easily add the carbon offset ancillary when booking online, but TTI and CarbonClick ensured that their reservations team were able to easily add the carbon offset to their customers bookings over the phone or email too, via the backend of TTI. This was an important element for Air Chathams as their customers highly value the ability to talk to a real-life person to make a reservation.

As for Travel Technology Interactive (TTI), CEO Gregoire Echalier said “We are excited to embark on this journey towards a more sustainable future with our partner, CarbonClick. At TTI, we are committed to reducing our environmental impact and promoting sustainability. By integrating CarbonClick’s end-to-end carbon offset solution into our cutting-edge IBE technology, we can now offer our airline partners and their passengers a transparent and traceable method to offset their carbon emissions. ”

Why Air Chathams chose to work with CarbonClick

“CarbonClick’s project range and quality appealed to us. They could offer us a local project to include into our mix, and their rigorous selection methodology assured us of the quality of the projects. With Air Chathams being the first TTI airline to integrate the solution into our booking system, we found CarbonClick to be very flexible to accommodate our needs and requirements. Another benefit was that CarbonClick provided us with a templated supporting webpage which we could set up within minutes. This webpage helps tell our sustainability story and engage our customers in offsetting at any stage. We are also related to CarbonClick due to being a fellow New Zealand business.” Estelle Bray-Taylor, Marketing and Communications Advisor, Air Chathams

“At Air Chathams we recognise our role within aviation to mitigate our climate footprint internally and in the communities, we do business with, for the long-term. That is why partnering with CarbonClick enables us to deliver simple and transparent carbon offsetting options for our customers. New Zealanders of all ages are aware of climate change and its adverse effects. So, collaborating and working with CarbonClick empowers the Airline to offer verified off-setting projects through our online booking system. It’s a simple and intuitive process to offset carbon emissions when purchasing flights through our website and follow the progression of meaningful and transparent carbon offsetting projects both home and abroad on CarbonClick’s digital platform. CarbonClick and Air Chathams share the same origins in Aotearoa and a joint ethos to effectively reduce greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and long may it this partnership continue.” Duane Emeny, Chief Operating Officer, Air Chathams