Transavia

Transavia on purpose

Transavia purpose. Aviation is an industry that’s under heavy scrutiny when it comes to sustainability. The impact of aviation on our environment is clear. To keep its license to operate, the aviation industry needs to innovate.

But, true leaders see opportunities rather than challenges. Transavia believes we can turn things around and is committed to building a sustainable future for aviation. The aviation company is investing in fleet renewal, more efficient flying, engine washes, and is looking for ways to make fuel more sustainable.

Recently, Transavia signed a deal with Bit, a company that specialises in AI, IoT, and robotics, to help develop sustainable innovations for aviation. And they installed a new type of winglet that considerably reduces fuel consumption. These are developments that help Transavia to make big steps towards a sustainable business.

Transavia wants to reduce its CO2 emissions and at the same time keep flying accessible to everyone. With our new platform WeCare, every Transavia employee can contribute to this goal by creating and supporting sustainable solutions.

Arjen Kieskamp, VP Ground Services Transavia

The Challenge

Right now, Transavia aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 35% by the year 2030. But ten Brink’s statement shows that Transavia wants more than only reduce its CO2 emissions and alleviate its impact on the environment. The aviation company also strives to an inclusive society and wants to contribute to this goal.

“The challenge that we had with the new strategy is that employees on the ground should feel proud, but also realise how their daily job relates to that overall purpose”

Bringing Transavia’s sustainability strategy to life

The official Transavia colour is green, and so is their heart. Transavia wants to reduce their footprint and proactively contribute to society. For their customers, the business, and the world.

And, with Mattijs ten Brink as CEO, as sustainability enthusiast both personally and professionally, Transavia’s sustainability strategy was well underway. He set up a sustainability team and made sustainability an official part of Transavia’s evaluation model. Now, departments had to actively report on their sustainability progress. By working according to an open-source principle, they want to share their expertise with others. So we can all work on a better tomorrow, together.

But, while the strategy was set, bringing this strategy to life proved to be a challenge. They wanted to anchor sustainability in the core of the company. With this goal in mind and building on their brand and purpose strategy, we helped Transavia set up their We Care platform. With this platform, all “Transavians” (as the employees call themselves) have the opportunity to contribute to sustainability and social projects and ultimately connect their personal purpose with that of the company.

Together with its employees, Transavia wants to reduce their footprint and proactively contribute to society. This goal led to two overarching themes: Footprint & Inclusive society

Footprint

Transavia understands that flying has negative effects on our environment. They want to take that responsibility and actively look for innovative solutions to this problem. Their ultimate goal is to find a balance between reducing Transavia’s footprint and keeping flying accessible to everyone.

The footprint goal is connected to the SDGs:

Inclusive society

The airline has a rich history when it comes to fighting for an inclusive society. Long before the We Care platform existed, Transavia worked together with charities like Peter Pan Foundation and JINC. Transavia believes in the power of an inclusive society. Actively including people who could use a bit of help and offering them extra opportunities makes sure that everyone can participate in our society.

The inclusive society goal is connected to the SDGs:

All initiatives on the We Care platform are contributing to ones of these themes and goals.

Setting up the platform launch for success

Building a platform is one thing, turning it into a success another. Usually, we launch our platforms at the same time for all employees. This time, we decided to do things a little different. Instead of setting up an ambassadors network after the launch, we started with a soft launch a few months before the actual kick off.

During the soft launch, we gathered a small group of enthusiastic people and gave them a sneak peek of the platform. We hosted inspiration boosters, engagement sessions, and purpose-into-action workshops, to really create a dedicated group before the launch.

That way, we were able to really create a real bottom-up implementation and set up the platform launch for success. And it paid off: from the beginning of the platform, already 10 initiatives were up and running.