KEY POINTS:
Air New Zealand will offer passengers a voluntary carbon offset scheme that will cost up to $88 per trip.
When passengers book they will be able to donate to an environment trust that will fund research into alternative fuels, a tree planting project on a Hawkes Bay farm and buy emission reduction units from a Manawatu wind farm.
The voluntary contributions will range from $4.50 for an Auckland-Wellington return flight, $13.70 - Christchurch to Sydney and $88.10 - Auckland to Los Angeles.
Other airlines run similar schemes but Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe says his airline's plans were more tangible.
The first carbon credits the airline will buy are at TrustPower's Tararua windfarm and it will provide $450,000 initial funding itself for an environment trust whose projects will include planting 85,000 trees on a farm near Havelock North.
Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said voluntary offset charges had not been enthusiastically supported at other airlines but the scheme announced today was more tangible.
"We're trying to create a connection that will get a much greater uptake than some airlines overseas where you just pay some money and you don't know what's going to happen to it," Fyfe says.
"When customers purchase a flight on Air New Zealand, they will now be able to make a concious choice about whether or not they want to take positive steps toward helping our environment."
The airline has been at the forefront of a push to clean up the image of New Zealand's $17 billion tourism industry which it fears will be damaged by environmentally concious tourists being put off by polluting long haul travel.
The airline industry contributes between 2 per cent and 3 per of carbon emissions and on current growth rates this will grow.
Air New Zealand says it has cut emissions from jets by 100,000 tonnes over the past three years through reducing weight on aircraft, reducing power on descent and using more ground power on the tarmac.
It is also aiming to have the youngest, most fuel efficient fleet within the next five years.
Prime Minister Helen Clark said at this morning's launch the airline had set itself the "bold goal" of being the world's most environmentally responsible airline.
Fyfe said the airline's plans to test fly the engine of a Boeing 747 on biofuel were on track.
The airline is working with Boeing and Rolls Royce to develop an environmentally sustainable fuel that could be used in a test flight later this year.
