The world’s greenest airlines have been named at the ITB Berlin travel show, with European carrier Monarch topping the list.

The study of airline efficiency was conducted by Atmosfair, a carbon offsetting company, and looked into factors such as how efficient an airline’s fleet was and how full its planes normally fly.

Monarch, a charter and scheduled airline operating predominantly from the UK, was judged the world’s most efficient airline, with Atmosfair praising its efficient aircraft and high seating density.

German carrier Condor, owned by holiday giant Thomas Cook, won second place thanks to its high occupancy and Canadian Air Transat was ranked third, making it the most efficient long-haul carrier.

Some of the world’s better-known airlines fared less well, with Emirates in 30th place, Delta in 33rd, Air France in 37th, Lufthansa 52nd, British Airways in 61st, American Airlines in 63rd and Virgin Atlantic in 99th place.

Although the airline index covered 92 percent of global air traffic, it deliberately excluded budget carriers because of problems with comparing them on an equal footing, most obviously because low-cost carriers often receive subsidies and fly to airports further away from cities, causing additional emissions.

Atmosfair Airline Index 2011

1 Monarch Airlines
2 Condor Flugdienst
3 Air Transat A.T.Inc.
4 Air New Zealand Link
5 Kingfisher Airlines
6 EVA Airways
7 Air Europa
8 Srilankan Airlines
9 TAM Regional
10 Edelweiss Air

Source: AFPrelaxnews – See the full list at www.atmosfair.de