Virgin Atlantic adds lightweight containers

   Virgin Atlantic Cargo has received 802 lightweight air cargo containers in a move to eventually replace the 3,200 containers in its fleet in a fuel-saving measure.
   The airline will take delivery of 250 additional LD3s in the coming weeks. Replacing 1,052 units, company officials said, will reduce the carrier’s 2014 CO2 emissions by 565 tons.
   The units are 16 kilograms lighter than the containers currently utilized by Virgin Atlantic.
   “This is one of a wide range of sustainability initiatives across the entire airline and is closely linked to our brand values. We have been trialing lightweight containers over several months,” Neil Ferdinando, Virgin Atlantic’s general manager of cargo operations, said in a statement.  He added that the container replacements give “a dual benefit to the airline of improved fuel consumption and makes another valuable contribution towards our target of reducing aircraft CO2 emissions by 30 percent by 2020.”