Canadian wine and beer supplier Societe de Vin Internationale (Laval, Quebec; www.gelosogroup.com) has introduced what it claims to be the first one litre PET wine bottle to be used by the North American airline industry. Supplied by Amcor Rigid Plastics, the PET packaging division of Australian packaging specialist Amcor (Abbotsford; www.amcor.com), the lightweight barrier container has been adopted by one of Canada’s largest charter airlines, Air Transat (Montreal / Canada; www.airtransat.com). The 54g PET stock bottle is one-eighth the weight of the previous 430g glass container, and offers obvious advantages to the airline industry. Its introduction reflects growing environmentally-driven demand for alternatives to glass for wine packaging – see also Plasteurope.com of 30.11.2010 and of 28.10.2010.

According to Aldo Geloso, an executive with Societe de Vin Internationale, Air Transat made the decision to use the bottle because of its sustainability values and the need to reduce weight on its aircraft and cut fuel costs. He said the airline had reported that the aluminium screw-cap container has been well-received by air travellers and that it will be expanded into full service use. It is used for Societe de Vin Internationale’s Costabella, Viejos Robles, Massaria and Bergerie du Loup wine brands. The company said it is considering a retail launch later this year in Quebec grocery stores.

Amcor said this is the first application in wine packaging for a one litre bottle – the company has previously developed 187ml and 750ml containers. The bottle uses barrier coating technology developed by KHS Plasmax (Dortmund / Germany; www.khs.com), which was successfully introduced to the North American market in 2007 – see Plasteurope.com of 05.06.2008.