Million Air At Westchester Airport Achieves Carbon Neutral Goal

PURCHASE, NY — Flying isn't just the safest way to travel; it might also be one of the greenest ways to travel, if one operator at Westchester County Airport has anything to say about it.

Million Air White Plains has announced carbon neutral operations for 2022, along with Million Air Burbank and Million Air Dallas. The three locations are carbon neutral using protocols which require businesses to quantify operational carbon emissions, put together a long-term carbon reduction plan and offset any residual emissions with offsets.

"In the last three years Million Air has invested hundreds of millions of dollars replacing an outdated hanger with a state-of-the-art facility, as well as opening a world-class passenger terminal," Million Air CEO Roger Woolsey told Patch. "Both employ advanced energy reduction and pollution control technologies. As part of the construction, we were able to install an advanced drainage and retention system to control and treat runoff. With plans to hopefully add a second hangar Million Air will help decrease noise pollution."

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Million Air White Plains has already implemented upgrades to reduce emissions — including converting the fixed-base operations (FBO) campus to natural gas, incorporating natural lighting to the remodeled facility to reduce electrical consumption, converting the campus to 100 percent LED lighting and the use of reflective white coating on hangar roofs to reduce heat gain in the summer.

"Million Air is committed to accelerating General Aviation’s transition to cleaner operations, not just in our FBOs but in offering Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and offset options to customers also concerned with actions they can take regarding climate change," Million Air spokesperson Sandy Nelson explained. "Our goal is to become the first carbon neutral operating FBO network by end of 2023."

The first step in declaring its operations carbon neutral was to measure carbon emissions. According to the company, this was accomplished in three "scopes" across business operations at each FBO. Scope 1 emissions are considered those from sources the FBO owns or controls directly — for example, fuel consumption operating fuel trucks, crew cars and ground service equipment. Scope 2 emissions are considered indirect emissions, including power, gas and cooling of facilities. Scope 3 encompasses emissions not produced by the company itself or the result of activities from owned or controlled assets, but by those emissions that the business is indirectly responsible for. In scope 3, Million Air considered employee commutes and business travel emissions.

The company then built a long-term carbon reduction plan for the three FBOs, including the operations at Westchester County Airport. The plans focused on emissions reductions that included the use of biodiesel fuel for ground service equipment, solar panel installations across key airports, installing EV charging stations, upgrading to electric ground service equipment, geo- thermal heating and providing Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

Some immediate first steps included Million Air Burbank now offering SAF to its customers and Million Air White Plains at Westchester County Airport becoming the first FBO in the Northeast to purchase a 100 percent battery-driven, zero emission 28.5 VDC electric ground pourer unit (eGPU). Million Air said plans are in the works to purchase more of the no noise pollution eGPUs from ITW GSE for the rest of its network.

After carbon measurement and reduction plans, residual emissions are offset on an annual basis. Carbon offsets are sourced from high quality carbon reduction and avoidance projects around the world. High quality carbon offsets are backed by international standards, must support real emissions reductions that are permanent and "additional," which means the reductions would not have been achieved without carbon finance.

Million Air worked with Air BP and 4Air on its carbon neutrality achievement using carbon accounting methods developed with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Green House Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard.

“Million Air’s approach to carbon neutrality will give customers the opportunity to fly from Million Air’s network of carbon neutral FBOs," said Woolsey. “We strive to make a long-term contribution to reduce the impact of climate change and give thousands of customers opportunities to support their own green initiatives.”

More information about Million Air can be found here.