Qantas has extended its carbon offset programme to enable travel agents to help their customers fly carbon neutral.
Customers will be able to purchase carbon offsets when booking flights via the trade, with the feature made possible through the NDC-enabled Qantas Distribution Platform (QDP).
The ability to fly carbon neutral was previously only available to passengers ticking a box when booking flights direct via the qantas.com website.
This enhancement to the QDP will see the carrier support more conservation and environmental projects in Australia and around the world.
These have included protecting the Great Barrier Reef and working with indigenous communities to reduce wildfires in Western Australia.
Frequent flyers and business rewards customers can earn 10 Qantas Points for every Australian dollar spent offsetting their emissions.
Agents making bookings using the content from the QDP will have access to the fly carbon neutral feature.
Qantas sales and distribution executive manager, Igor Kwiatkowski, said: “Many of our customers have told us how important it is for them to be able to offset their flight, and until now, those who booked through a travel agent weren’t able to do so conveniently.
“As we carry Australians to their destinations, we’re very conscious of working to minimise the impact we have on the environment. This development is part of that sustainability strategy, while also delivering on our commitment to better support the industry in selling and servicing their bookings with Qantas.
“Through our fly carbon neutral programme, we have been offsetting carbon emissions for more than a decade. We’re confident we’ll continue to build on this with the support of our agency partners.
“This is the first of a range of new types of offers we’ll be making available to agents as we progress our NDC programme over the coming months all designed to more closely align the functionality of indirect agent channels with qantas.com.”