flypop plans to be first international carbon-neutral airline

As the first airline to operate a non-stop service between London Stansted airport and two of India's key cities, Amritsar in Punjab and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, flypop intends to purchase sufficient carbon credits to fully offset the emissions created by its flights without passing the cost on to the consumer.

To fully support the communities, it will be serving in the UK and India, flypop will focus on carbon- offsetting, including reforestation projects in Scotland and in the South Asia countries where it will fly to.

flypop's carbon neutral programme will appeal to environmentally conscious flyers like Dame Emma Thompson, who flew Business Class from Los Angeles to London to attend the Extinction Rebellion climate change demonstration and claimed she was able to offset her carbon footprint from the flight 'by planting trees'. However, she told the Metro newspaper that it's too difficult for most people: "I'm in the very fortunate position of being able to offset my carbon footprint, but most people can't," she said.

According to the BBC, half of airlines don't offer any carbon offsetting at all while fewer than 1% are choosing to spend more in order to offset their carbon emissions. Among the tips it recommends for those who have to fly are flying direct (non-stop) and sitting in economy class.

"A study by the World Bank shows that emissions are nearly three times higher if you travel in Business or First Class than if you travel in Economy," said BBC environment reporter Laura Foster.

(Nino) Navdip Singh Judge, CEO and founding partner of flypop, commented:

"We've developed an environmentally friendly business model that makes it easy for passengers to offset their carbon emissions by purchasing the carbon credits on their behalf - effectively planting one tree per passenger. Also, by offering direct (non-stop) all-economy flights we help passengers to reduce their carbon footprints. Protection of the environment is a key part of flypop's sustainability ethos by putting the planet over profit."

flypop is an innovative and disruptive low-cost long-haul airline, providing consumers with direct flights to second tier cities in South Asia from London Stansted Airport. The airline's first two destinations will be Amritsar and Ahmedabad.

flypop's management team has a wealth of experience working for airline and related companies including British Airways, Emirates, Ryanair and Lotus F1.

The company has just closed a successful Seed Round fund raise of £100,000. And for its final regulatory funding round, it has so far received commitments for £2 million. All new funds will be held in an escrow account until the service is approved for flying by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. The carrier plans to raise a total of £6 million by the end of 2019.