British Airways has hit back at a Which? Travel report that accuses it of ’emitting more CO2 per passenger than rival airlines’.

BA has responded by saying Which? carried out ‘shoddy’ research, using statistics that are out of date. Which? has refuted BA’s response.

The report claimed ‘flying with BA can increase CO2 emissions by up to 45% per passenger when compared to rival airlines on the same UK routes’.

For the research, Which? chose popular international routes from London which were well served by a variety of carriers to compare CO2 emissions and found that on four of the six routes included, British Airways had the worst emissions of any carrier included in the study.

The report concluded that passengers worried about their carbon footprint can make much more significant reductions to their emissions by changing who they fly with.

BA responded by saying Which? used ‘shoddy research based on data which is several years out of date’.

It added that Which ‘only looked at 2% of our flights’.

“We are committed to net zero by 2050 and we are open to discussion on our approach to reducing our carbon emissions with anyone who is interested in accurate and robust data,” BA concluded.

Which? denied the research was ‘shoddy’, saying: “There are different methodologies for calculating the carbon caused by flights. We looked at a number of flight carbon calculators, including those promoted by airlines.”

It added the data was not out of date, saying: “We used the Flyzen calculator because it is impartial and considered a greater variety of factors to accurately estimate the carbon footprints of flights.”