More than eight years ago, no reliable airlines existed in Costa Rica or Central America serving adventure travel destinations. Services were often slow, chaotic and inconvenient for international and regional tourists. Whole communities were essentially cut off from the world in certain seasons.
Mr. Khajavi and his family started NatureAir in 2000. Since then NatureAir has grown from flying 18,000 passengers annually to more than 150,000 in 2007. The company got its start with one plane and 17 employees. Now it has a fleet of eight planes and more than 150 employees. It’s the only twin-engine airline in Costa Rica with both scheduled and chartered flights, and offers 74 daily flights to 16 destinations in Costa Rica, and Panama. In 2009 NatureAir plans to have a new fleet of aircrafts and will be adding new routes to Nicaragua. Growth has been at more than 35% annually compounded, and NatureAir has been predicted to be one of the fastest growing companies in Latin America.
More than eight years ago, no reliable airlines existed in Costa Rica or Central America serving adventure travel destinations. Services were often slow, chaotic and inconvenient for international and regional tourists. Whole communities were essentially cut off from the world in certain seasons.
Mr. Khajavi and his family started NatureAir in 2000. Since then NatureAir has grown from flying 18,000 passengers annually to more than 150,000 in 2007. The company got its start with one plane and 17 employees. Now it has a fleet of eight planes and more than 150 employees. It’s the only twin-engine airline in Costa Rica with both scheduled and chartered flights, and offers 74 daily flights to 16 destinations in Costa Rica, and Panama. In 2009 NatureAir plans to have a new fleet of aircrafts and will be adding new routes to Nicaragua. Growth has been at more than 35% annually compounded, and NatureAir has been predicted to be one of the fastest growing companies in Latin America.
In 2004 NatureAir became carbon neutral. 100 % of NatureAir’s carbon emissions are compensated through the protection and reforestation of tropical forests in southern Costa Rica’s rich biodiversity zones of the Osa Pensinsula. NatureAir privately pays for 3rd party audits to be conducted of the land to ensure that these forests are being conserved and protected. In addition, NatureAir meet with and encourages other airlines to participate in this program as a way of using tourism and transportation to protect the destinations to which they serve and benefit from.
Every year the company also works to improve it’s flight plans in order to conserve more fuel. In 2008 this was an improvement of roughly 4% in fuel efficiency per hour of flight, compared to last year. These efforts have resulted in a 92 percent on-time performance. Their fleet is mostly made up of de Havilland Twin Otters, which are acclaimed to be the quietest and most fuel-efficient engine option available. This provides guests the least intrusive way to journey through environmentally sensitive areas. Studies show Nature Air outputs as much carbon dioxide in a year compared to what one commercial flight outputs in 10 days from New York to London.
Plus NatureAir’s “green” projects are ongoing. The company is currently researching alternative fuel sources for their company, which include ethanol and pig waste.
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