Air NZ test flight saves fuel and emissions

An Air New Zealand jet was the centre of attention when it arrived at San Francisco International Airport from Auckland on Friday.

United States Federal Aviation Administration officials promoting flight and navigational technologies that reduce fuel use and carbon dioxide emissions watched the arrival of the Boeing 777.

The test flight, named Aspire 1, was controlled and monitored by air traffic controllers in New Zealand, Tahiti and the United States using satellite-based GPS, rather than ground-based radar.

The new system allows pilots more freedom in determining the most efficient route to a destination by climbing to high elevations more quickly and taking longer, more gradual descents to the runway.

Later, the New Zealand pilot said the flight saved 4542 litres of jet fuel and avoided 11 tonnes of carbon from being emitted into the air.

Passengers arrived five minutes ahead of schedule. The flight was the first of its kind for Air New Zealand and part of an ongoing FAA effort to streamline trans-Pacific flights.

"From taxi to touch down, it's just flat-out green," FAA's acting administrator, Robert Sturgell, said.

FAA vice-president of oceanic and enroute services, Rick Day, said the initiative had not been possible before because technology on the ground had not been up to the same level as the avionics on the aircraft.

Passengers would not notice any difference in their flying experience, but they might arrive sooner than expected, he said.

There were 156 flights a week between Australia, New Zealand and United States and Canada, and if each one could adopt the Aspire 1 initiatives, 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year could be saved.

That equates to more than $45 million in fuel savings, the equivalent of nearly 400,000 return trips from Auckland to Wellington by car, or taking 6 per cent of Auckland traffic off the road.

Day said it was feasible the practices could be adopted for a good portion of flights.

But it was too early to predict when this would happen.

Two more test flights would be planned, the data collected and analysed before air traffic control services pushed toward making the practices more common place, he said.

The aviation sector represents about 2%-3% of global CO2 emissions.

Day said any fuel that could be saved would reduce the operating cost for the airline and also help the environment.

This would reflect in ticket prices and the quality of the air people breathed.

The initiative would improve the service received by airlines from air traffic controllers.

In turn it would stimulate economic growth to make airlines more profitable and help control ticket prices, he said.

- With AP

Newest First

Oldest First

alan   #3   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

there are only so many landings and take off's available at any airport in any one day. if each aircraft was allocated a specific slot or lose it and wait for the next unallocated slot which could be preprogrammed saving could be the norm. Unfortunatly greedy airports, airlines and us passengers would not like the more regemented enviroment. we will as usual leave the whole mess to our children.

Paul Warner   #2   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

Does Air NZ think for one second trhat this will be the norm?? Priority takeoffs may be Ok down in this part odf the world but in Europe and US?? Not likely if every airline wants to save fuel in the same way..

Todd Wilhelm   #1   05:26 pm Jan 28 2009

It's nice to see Rick Day and Bobby Sturgell pumping this fluff piece while the Air Traffic Control system is in such dire straits.

Where are their priorities?

Try to focus on the real issues Bobby, instead of your incessant attempts to secure a cushy job in the private sector by pushing this NexGen technology that is at least 20 years off.

You could do much to cut delays by increasing controller staffing and building more runways - but of course that will not put any money in your pocket.

Ad Feedback