THE Orient Airlines Association (OAA) will hold an environment conference next May, but some of its members have been pioneering the ''green'' cause for some time.
Probably no airline has led Cathay Pacific Airlines and Japan Airlines (JAL) in the field, with Cathay, for example, having a full-time environmental officer, Sheila Wong.
All areas of the company's activities are being examined in areas ranging from aircraft engine emissions and noise pollution to the use of plastic disposable cups.
The airline has had a paper recycling scheme for some time at its main offices near Kai Tak airport and is said to be saving the equivalent of 250 trees a month from the 15 tonnes collected. The proceeds, about $4,000 a month, are donated to a green cause.
Cathay also uses heavy duty metal pallets in its cargo holds instead of wooden spreader boards, and in-flight service staff have stopped using plastic bags for the collection of towels and linen from the aircraft. Passengers receive duty-free items in recyclable shopping bags.
The airline's 25 per cent owned Hongkong Aircraft Engineering Co (HAECO) has reduced noise pollution at Kai Tak by fitting a silencer on its maintenance plant engine test bed.