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Data link enables environmental benefits
SITA is playing a key role in a range of Air Transport Industry initiatives aimed at reducing fuel consumption and the environmental impact of aviation, which is estimated to account for around 2% of global greenhouse gases. Use of data link is one way of realizing concrete environmental benefits through:
- Optimization of flight trajectories via Continuous Descent Approach (CDA). CDA aims to keep aircraft high, at low thrust and clean configuration, for as long as possible. An optimized arrival profile is calculated well before landfall based on aircraft performance data, wind information and arrival constraints, and sent to the aircraft's flight management system via SITA's data link. For airlines, the benefits can be considerable; in the first six months of 2008 Air New Zealand saved an estimated 22,000 kg of fuel and 69,140 kg of CO2 emissions using CDA at San Francisco Airport. And since descent is made with engines at idle or near-idle, there are additional benefits in both noise and NOx reduction at airports.
- Reduction of aircraft fuel consumption on the ground thanks to SITA's new Fuel Conservation Monitoring tool (FCM). FCM is AIRCOM Server's new module designed to help airlines accurately monitor fleet fuel consumption by tracking single engine taxi as well as APU usage during ground operations. Thanks to alerts generated then unnecessary fuel burn is detected (aircraft taxiing with two engines turned on, APU running too long, aircraft parked on a waiting lane for a prolonged period) airline staff can quickly correct the situation to save fuel costs and improve air quality in the airport neighbourhood. FCM can also track aircraft ground movement and display aircraft position on a graphical map to facilitate operations and expedite ground handling.
Breath of fresh AIRE
SITA is also playing a leading role in the joint Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE), which is part of the cooperative agreement between the EU and the FAA to coordinate the SESAR and NextGen infrastructure modernization programmes with the aim of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Trial of new operational measures like 'reduced engine' approaches, carried out in Stockholm, Louisville and Atlanta, have confirmed substantial savings in fuel and CO2 and NOx emissions. As part of the programme, Spain's Air Europa recently tested new collaborative flight planning procedures using the latest ATM technologies, with the airline's ground-based Ops Management system defining the most fuel-efficient flight plan for the prevailing conditions, then transmitting it directly via AIRCOM to the aircraft and relevant Air Traffic Control centres. AIRE industry partners include Airbus and Boeing, carriers Air France-KLM, SAS, Delta and Fedex, and ANSPs such as IAA (Ireland), LFV (Sweden) and NAV (Portugal).
In addition, the implementation of FANS-capable ground systems supporting data link applications such as Controller Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC), Automatic
Dependant Surveillance Contract (ADS-C) or User Preferred Route (UPR) already enables the transmission of optimum routing to data link equipped aircrafts, especially in oceanic airspace. As an example, Air New Zealand estimates that using UPRs on its flights to Japan could save it as much as US$ 2 million in fuel costs every year.
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