Nature Air Annonces Changes

AS part of a new government environmental campaign, Nature Air airlines has paid $12,500 to compensate for the nearly 5,000 tons of greenhouse gases released into the air by its fleet of airplanes during 2004. According to a Nature Air statement, it is the first airline in the world to make such a payment.

The compensation is part of the government initiative called Viaje Limpio (Clean Travel), proposed by the Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE) and the Costa Rican National Forestry Financing Fund (FONAFIFO). The program asks individuals or businesses that produce greenhouse gases through air, ground, train or sea transportation to voluntarily pay to compensate for the environmental damage, and in return receive an Environmental Service Certificate.

Nature Air s funds will be used to make environmental service payments to property owners in Drake Bay, on the northern Pacific Side of the Osa Peninsula in southern Costa Rica, compensating them for protecting the forests on their land over the next five years.

Nature Air has also opened a new office in Tamarindo, a Pacific coast town in the northwestern province of Guanacaste. It is located in the Iguana Surf building on the road to Langosta, but at press time no phone number was available.

On Dec. 16, the company suffered its first-ever plane crash, through all survived (see story, page 12).