In this episode of ‘Sustainability in the Air’, Lahiru Ranasinghe, Director of Sustainability at easyJet, speaks with SimpliFlying’s CEO Shashank Nigam about what it takes to move a major low-cost carrier from a sustainability blueprint to real-world results.
easyJet launched its net zero roadmap in 2022 and has spent the subsequent years focused on its execution. Operating within what Ranasinghe describes as the most tightly environmentally regulated aviation market in the world, the airline is under pressure to act while continuing to grow.
Ranasinghe reflects on the airline’s progress to date, from fleet renewal and operational efficiencies to the realities of scaling sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The conversation also explores easyJet’s role in advancing hydrogen propulsion with Rolls-Royce, its partnership with JetZero, and the emerging challenge of tackling non-CO2 impacts such as contrails.
easyJet last joined the podcast in 2023, where we explored the foundations of the airline’s net zero roadmap. That conversation provides useful context for how the strategy has progressed. You can revisit it here:
Here are the key highlights of the conversation:
From strategy to execution: what a sustainability function actually does (2:30)
Why airlines cannot wait: regulation, markets, and licence to operate (10:21)
How easyJet built its net zero roadmap from the ground up (12:27)
Why airspace modernisation is lagging, and where inefficiencies actually sit (20:22)
Balancing growth and emissions: what “decoupling” looks like in practice (22:11)
SAF reality check: supply constraints and structural challenges (24:28)
Hydrogen engine breakthrough with Rolls-Royce (37:19)
JetZero and the blended wing body opportunity (39:19)
Contrails and non-CO2: from science to operational reality (41:18)
Rapid Fire! (56:43)
Keep reading for a detailed overview of the episode.
From roadmap to reality: easyJet’s next phase
The aviation industry has spent much of the past decade setting targets, building roadmaps and defining pathways to net zero. easyJet is a case study in what comes next: the considerably harder work of turning those plans into operational reality.
For Ranasinghe, the change is structural. Sustainability is no longer confined to reporting or compliance. It has become a core strategic function embedded across the business, and is critical for the airline’s long-term viability. “easyJet is 30 years old. For easyJet to be around for another 30 years, we need to understand how to drive this [sustainability] transition and play a part in it,” says Ranasinghe.
At the centre of this transition is what he describes as the industry’s defining challenge:
“The challenge for us, as an airline and as an industry, is to decouple growth from emissions. By decoupling, I mean reaching a point where we can grow the business and the industry while emissions decline at the same time.”
For an airline operating across Europe, the world’s most tightly regulated aviation environment, the question is not whether to act, but how to do so without putting itself at a competitive disadvantage against carriers facing less regulatory pressure.
5 takeaways from the conversation
1. How easyJet actually built its roadmap
easyJet’s net zero roadmap was established in 2022, but Ranasinghe emphasises that it is not a static document. Instead, it is actively maintained and evolves over time, with the strategy refined each year to reflect updated assumptions, particularly around fleet deliveries and growth.
The airline has also set an interim target of 35% carbon emissions intensity improvement by 2035, validated by the Science-based targets initiative (SBTi).
Rather than starting from an SBTi-prescribed pathway and working backwards, easyJet built its roadmap from the ground up. This meant modelling fleet retirement profiles, operational efficiency gains and realistic timelines for airspace modernisation. The SBTi pathway was then overlaid as what Ranasinghe describes as a “translator”, converting temperature targets into a metric the business can act on: “If you say you need to keep your temperature profile on a well-below-two-degrees pathway, that’s Dutch to me. The value of the SBTi pathway is that it translates that temperature requirement into a language we can understand, namely CO2 intensity.”
Ensuring that this starting point was credible mattered. Before publishing the roadmap, easyJet conducted 26 rounds of external review, engaging NGOs, scientists, policymakers, industry bodies and technical partners. The aim was to test the assumptions rigorously before committing to them publicly.
2. Fleet renewal and operational efficiency are the strongest near-term levers
easyJet’s net zero roadmap is structured across three critical areas:
Reduce emissions where possible. This pillar covers the areas most within the airline’s direct control, including fleet renewal, operational efficiency, and airspace modernisation.
Replace fossil fuels over time. This focuses on transitioning away from fossil fuels through SAF and, in the longer term, hydrogen.
Remove residual emissions that cannot be eliminated, through carbon removal technologies.
Fleet renewal is where the most immediate gains are being realised. Much of this comes down to gauge. Replacing the A319s with A320neo and A321neo aircraft improves carbon intensity without requiring any change in fuel. As Ranasinghe notes, the A319 and A321neo have broadly similar absolute fuel burn, but the latter carries 79 additional passengers. The result is a materially lower emissions intensity per seat.
Operational efficiency is also outperforming initial projections, driven largely by flight operations, states Ranasinghe. These are gains within the airline’s direct control, and they are being delivered faster than originally anticipated.
Airspace modernisation, by contrast, is proving slower to unlock. The airline continues to work towards a 10% efficiency improvement by 2035, but progress has not matched the pace assumed in its roadmap. Rather than relying on system-wide reform, easyJet has analysed its own network in detail to identify specific inefficiencies and hotspots, from high-density airport profiles to indirect routings. The aim is to work directly with airports and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) to address these hotspots incrementally.
3. Why SAF markets are not yet working for airlines
easyJet operates with a fully outsourced fuelling model. The airline pays a fuel supplier to deliver compliant fuel into the aircraft, with sourcing and blending handled upstream in the supply chain. That model works for meeting mandated SAF volumes, but it limits the airline’s ability to participate directly in long-term offtake agreements independently, particularly given it does not control the infrastructure needed to blend, distribute or refuel SAF once it leaves the production site.
Ranasinghe also points to a misalignment in how the SAF market currently functions. Unlike aircraft procurement, where launch customers often benefit from lower pricing, SAF markets create the possibility of a first-mover disadvantage. As production scales and costs fall, later entrants may gain access to cheaper supply. As he puts it:
“We face what is often described as a first-mover disadvantage when it comes to SAF, or at least the risk of it. If you lock in too early, others can take a wait-and-see approach and secure lower prices later. It is that relative cost difference that makes things scary, not just for us, but for all airlines.”
To support the development of long-term supply of SAF, easyJet has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ATOBA Energy, in partnership with World Fuel Services. The model positions ATOBA as an aggregator, offering access to a diversified pool of SAF supply with indexed pricing, rather than requiring airlines to commit to a single long-term source.
A separate approach is reflected in the airline’s partnership with Airbus. On routes such as Bristol to Toulouse, Airbus funds the purchase of physical SAF, with the emissions benefit split between the two: easyJet accounts for scope 1 reductions, while Airbus claims scope 3.
4. Hydrogen and blended wing body: the long-term bets
Alongside near-term operational measures, easyJet is investing in technologies beyond its current fleet horizon. These partnerships focus on shaping the future of aviation rather than delivering immediate impact.
easyJet’s collaboration with Rolls-Royce is aimed at a specific milestone: proving that a fully hydrogen-powered gas turbine engine could generate more than 30,000 pounds of thrust without fossil fuel. That is the level required for narrow-body commercial operations. Recently, the companies announced the successful testing of a modified Rolls-Royce Pearl 15 aircraft engine, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. This marks a significant step in proving the viability of hydrogen in aviation.
easyJet has also partnered with US-based start up JetZero, which is developing an ultra-efficient blended-wing-body (BWB) aircraft. The design targets a 50% aerodynamic efficiency saving compared to a Boeing 767. easyJet is also part of an airline working group supporting the development of an operating model for the BWB aircraft, including how it could fit within a low-cost network.
5. Contrails cannot be solved without fixing airspace
Ranasinghe believes contrails are an important issue for the industry to address, and one where there is an opportunity to act proactively. At a global level, he notes, there is no real debate that contrails contribute to warming.
A relatively small share of flights drives a disproportionate share of the impact: around 5% of flights are responsible for roughly 80% of contrail-related warming, as they pass through ice-supersaturated regions (ISSRs) where persistent contrails form.
In principle, the solution is straightforward: avoid those regions by flying above, below or around them. In practice, the challenge is far more complex: it depends on predictive models that are accurate enough to identify ISSRs in advance and reliable enough to be integrated into flight planning and operations.
Crucially, he describes contrails as a system-level issue rather than something individual airlines can solve on their own. The impact of contrails is linked to specific blocks of airspace at particular moments in time, affecting all aircraft passing through them. That means any meaningful solution has to involve ANSPs, not just changes to individual flight paths. In his view, this ties contrail avoidance directly to airspace reform, and the two need to be pursued together, not in parallel silos.
The transition to net zero in aviation will not be defined by a single breakthrough, but by how airlines manage competing constraints over time. easyJet’s roadmap offers a grounded view of that reality. Progress will depend as much on systems and markets as on technology.
Get our new book
Our new book Sustainability in the Air: Volume Two is now available for purchase on Amazon. Learn more about the startups, strategists, and sceptics working to close the gap between growth and green ambition.
‘Sustainability in the Air’ is the world’s leading podcast dedicated to sustainable aviation. Through in-depth conversations with top aviation leaders, we break through the clutter and provide a clear roadmap for a net-zero future.
