LOW-COST airline EasyJet broke advertising rules by claiming it emitted 22 per cent less than another airline, a watchdog said.
EasyJet's newspaper ad said flying "could be 50 per cent cleaner within ten years", adding: "Choose airlines with new aircraft, higher passenger loads, fewer emissions. EasyJet emits 22 per cent less *."
The asterisk referred to an explanation tha
t the claim was based on a comparison between an EasyJet aircraft and a "traditional" airline flying the same aircraft on the same route.
The Advertising Standards Authority said two readers challenged whether EasyJet could substantiate the claims.
Upholding the complaint over emissions, the ASA said the claim implied EasyJet aircraft emitted 22 per cent less than other aircraft when it was in fact based on emissions per passenger.
The ASA said: "We concluded that, because the basis for the claim had not been fully explained, the ad misleadingly implied that EasyJet planes were more environmentally efficient than the aircraft used by traditional airlines.
"We considered that, without qualification, the claim was likely to mislead."
Defending the advert to the watchdog, EasyJet said it was confident that its calculations backed the claim.
The full article contains 200 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
