How to measure emissions from Business travel: Air

What counts as Business travel: Air

Business travel air is flight activity undertaken by employees for work purposes, booked either on commercial airlines or on aircraft the organisation owns, leases or charters. It includes domestic and international flights, short-haul and long-haul, but excludes an employee's regular commute to their usual workplace. Ownership of the aircraft — third-party commercial carrier versus organisation-operated — determines whether the flight sits in Scope 1 or Scope 3.

Business travel air splits across two scopes depending on who operates the aircraft: flights on commercial airlines are Scope 3 Category 6, while flights on aircraft your organisation owns or charters directly are Scope 1. A common mistake is reporting all air travel as Scope 3 by default — check charter and owned-aircraft usage separately, since it changes both the scope and the boundary. Business travel air is distinct from employee commuting, which never includes air travel by definition, and from business travel rail and road, which are reported as their own categories by mode. As a reporting tip, capture seat class (economy, business, first) where possible, since it materially affects the emission factor applied per passenger-kilometre.

What activity data you need

Collect the most specific physical unit available. Unit definitions are in Appendix I — Description of Units.

• passenger.km
• kWh
• litre
• tonne
• $ Spend
• £ Spend

Which emission scope it falls under

Business travel: Air activity data typically maps to Scope 1 and Scope 3 Category 6 under the GHG Protocol. Confirm organisational boundary and ownership before reporting.

Sub-types available in the platform

All 10 sub-types available in the platform.

• Air Travel: Average
• Air travel: Average: UK
• Aviation turbine fuel
• International air
• Local air travel: Cessna Caravan
• Local air travel: Helicopter
• Local air travel: Turboprop-powered airliner: Fokker 50
• UK Domestic air
• UK Long haul air
• UK Short haul air

Data entry options

• seat type

  Select seat type when entering business travel: air activity data in the platform.

Full list of data entry options

Common questions

Do I need to record seat class for every flight?

Where possible, yes — economy, business and first-class seating typically carry different emission factors per passenger-kilometre, so capturing cabin class improves accuracy even if distance data is already available.

How do I treat flights on a chartered or company-owned aircraft?

Report these under Scope 1 rather than Scope 3, since the organisation directly owns or controls the combustion source, unlike a booking on a commercial carrier.

Are personal upgrades paid for by the employee still counted?

Yes, the actual cabin class flown is what matters for the activity data, regardless of who paid for any upgrade, since it reflects the true footprint of the trip.

Should a connecting flight be recorded as one trip or multiple legs?

Record each leg separately where distance or seat class differs between legs, since combining them into a single great-circle distance can under- or overstate short-haul and long-haul splits.

Does travel to a conference booked by a third-party event organiser count as business travel?

Yes, if an employee travels for work purposes the flight counts as business travel air regardless of who booked or paid for it, as long as you can obtain the travel details.