Etihad Airways has shown off its commitment to the environment by operating the world’s longest flight without any single-use plastics on board, in a bid to raise awareness of the effects of plastic pollution.

The flight operated from Abu Dhabi to Brisbane and landed on April 22, recognized as Earth Day across the globe.

While the milestone coincided with Earth Day celebrations, Etihad has pledged to take its commitment even further by reducing single-use plastic usage by 80 per cent not just in-flight, but across the entire organisation by the end of 2022.

Etihad identified over 95 single-use plastic products are used across its aircraft cabins and once removed from the Earth Day flight, Etihad prevented over 50 kilograms of plastics from being landfilled.

Guests on board enjoyed replacement products including sustainable amenity kits, award-winning eco-thread blankets made out of recycled plastic bottles, tablet toothpaste and edible coffee cup, while children were treated to eco-plush toys.

As a result of planning the Earth Day flight, Etihad additionally committed to remove up to 20 per cent of the single-use plastic items on board by 1 June 2019 and by the end of this year, Etihad will have removed 100 tonnes of single-use plastics from its inflight service.