Back in November 2007 I, along with thousands of other BA Executive Club members, received an email from Willie Walsh (CEO of BA) asking me to support the creation of a third runway at Heathrow.
Walsh claimed that expansion would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 330,000 tonnes a year, because aircraft would no longer have to waste fuel queueing for take-off or circling while waiting to land.
It now transpires that, according to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the claim is not quite correct. ASA has written to BA ordering it to withdraw the claim.
Walsh's e-mail implied that the claim about CO2 reduction had been endorsed by the Government. However, he did not make it clear that the new runway would raise overall CO2 emissions by 2.6 million tonnes a year by allowing an extra 220,000 flights.
ASA has asked BA to confirm by January 9 that it will not repeat the claim.
BA should not have tried to manipulate their customers in this manner in the first place.
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