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29 March 2024

Air travel associations are keen to go green

Published
By Criselda E Diala

Aviation has been one of the industries at the receiving end of recent international clamour for reduced ecological footprint. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reports that while it is highly criticised by environmentalists, the global airline industry is working to improve fuel efficiency by 25 per cent by 2020.

On the ground, the industry has begun adopting "green" innovations for its IT services such as the reduction in the number of database servers, according to Dominique El Bez, portfolio marketing director of Sita, an IT solutions provider to the air transport industry.

"There is a technique known as 'virtualisation technology', a process that will require over 12 months to reduce the number of servers by more than two-thirds. This will lead to a power consumption rate of one megawatt," said El Bez.

Sita has also revised the IT hardware strategies for its customers in the aviation industry through the use of power-saving schemes.

In flight, El Bez says airlines are using the Future Air Navigation System (Fans), an air-ground data-link communications service that helps aircraft fly preferred routes. "Fans has been proven to reduce fuel burn on long-range flights. As an example, Air New Zealand estimates that by taking preferred routes for its Japan flights, it saves around $2 million (Dh7.3m) per year on fuel," he said.

More flexible routing that harnesses favourable weather conditions and new onboard technologies that improve in-flight navigation, El Bez added, can help trim unnecessary kilometres off congested routes.

Citing another example, El Bez mentioned Airservices Australia's new Flex Tracks4 programme, which allows aircraft to use prevailing jet-stream conditions to fly more fuel-efficient routes.

"The ability to draw on the wealth of data collected by various systems gives airlines the capacity to intelligently decide which flights to delay, cancel, re-time, re-equip or divert – a factor that could be key to survival in tomorrow's fiercely competitive markets. Air Traffic Management procedures and Flight Management Systems, for instance, will give pilots more decision-making options in-flight, enabling them to keep fuel burn to a minimum."



Eco-flying

Iata mentions on its website that the aviation industry accounts for two per cent of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, 12 per cent of CO2 emissions from all transport sources and three per cent of humankind's total contribution to climate change.

The industry is tackling the environment issue systematically as it seeks to become carbon-free. To achieve this, Iata has prescribed a four-pillar strategy consisting of technological and operational measures, coupled with infrastructure and economic improvements that will help the industry reduce fuel burn, eventually resulting in less carbon emissions.