{"id":4778,"date":"2011-10-28T18:27:12","date_gmt":"2011-10-29T01:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=4778"},"modified":"2011-10-28T18:27:12","modified_gmt":"2011-10-29T01:27:12","slug":"big-birds-flying-green-economy-class-part-two-inspire-and-aspire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/big-birds-flying-green-economy-class-part-two-inspire-and-aspire\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Birds Flying Green Economy Class (Part Two): Inspire and Aspire"},"content":{"rendered":"
Strategy was almost as important as design in the recent Green Flight Challenge, with near flawless planning and execution of carefully-crafted flight\u00a0paths by the winning teams.\u00a0 This same precision and use of resources will become more important in a future constrained by increasingly precious fuels.<\/div>\n

According to Greenaironline.com<\/a>, \u201cThe Indian Ocean Strategic Partnership to Reduce Emissions (Inspire) <\/a>partnership achieved fuel savings of 3,482kilograms\u00a0(29,723lb) and carbon dioxide savings of 42,469kg on five flights operated between Australia and the Middle East and South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

These green demonstration flights, according to Greenair, show, \u201cwhat is what is possible when air navigation service providers (ANSP), airlines and airports work together to remove operational constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n

Begun in 2010 to \u201cdevelop gate-to-gate procedures, practice and services\u201d with the goal of reducing fuel use and emissions \u201cacross all phases of flight,\u201d Inspire follows Aspire – the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions<\/a> – established in February 2008 by Airservices Australia, Airways New Zealand and the U. S. Federal Aviation Administration. It has since added the ANSPs of Japan, Singapore and Thailand to the team.<\/p>\n

Both\u00a0 Aspire and Inspire attempt to promote air traffic management (ATM) best\u00a0 practices. \u00a0Aspire\u00a0 deals with the\u00a0Asia-Pacific region and Inspire with the Indian Ocean region \u2013 including routes\u00a0between \u201cthe Arabian Gulf and Australia, southern Africa-Australia and\u00a0South-East Asia and south-west Indian Ocean-Arabian Gulf.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Emirates' Boeing 777ER (extended range model) typical of those flying on Inspire\/Aspire routes<\/p><\/div>\n

Airservices\u00a0Australia states the aim of the flights is to \u201cshow what flight efficiencies\u00a0can be achieved within the current Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean ATM environment by removing controllable ATM system constraints as far as is practicable.\u201d\u00a0 This highly orchestrated and executed approach contrasts with the \u201cfree flight\u201d concepts being promoted in the United\u00a0 States, which would rely on dynamic elements to change a flight\u2019s path without\u00a0a great deal of central control.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0first demonstration flight, with a South African Airline Airbus A340 on March\u00a010, saved 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of fuel and 1,260 kilograms (2,772 pounds)\u00a0of CO2 emissions.\u00a0 These savings are notable\u00a0because the flight took place over an already optimized route.<\/p>\n

Airservices\u00a0explained the importance of the flight.\u00a0 “The\u00a0savings on this flight are notable \u00adbecause they highlight that improvements to\u00a0practices in the departure and arrival phases of flight can make a notable\u00a0reduction in \u00ademissions.”<\/p>\n

Several\u00a0elements in normally crowded skies may make these types of achievements\u00a0difficult for many flights.\u00a0 According to\u00a0Greenair<\/em>, \u201cAll of the flights benefited from unrestricted taxi and takeoff and\u00a0an uninterrupted climb to the initial cruise level. \u00a0In Australian airspace, the\u00a0flights were permitted to operate on airline-preferred routes. On arrival, the\u00a0flights had unrestricted descents directly to final approach and the shortest\u00a0taxi routes to the gate.\u201d\u00a0 Compare this with\u00a0the non-optimal long waits for departure, holding patterns, and often-occupied\u00a0gates on arrival, all causing the aircraft to waste time and fuel waiting for\u00a0other airplanes to clear the area.<\/p>\n

Inspire\u2019s\u00a0most recent demonstration flights were performed by Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways,\u00a0South African Airways and Virgin Australia, four of the nine partner airlines (in\u00a0cooperation with regional meteorological and civil aviation authorities).\u00a0 Flights operated under \u201cperfect\u201d ATM\u00a0conditions, according to Inspire.<\/p>\n

Greenair <\/em>notes, \u201cThe greatest fuel and emissions savings were achieved by Etihad<\/a> on the Abu\u00a0Dhabi-Sydney route, with a fuel saving of 4,800 kilograms (10,560 pounds) and\u00a0carbon dioxide savings of 15,120 kilograms (33,264 pounds). \u201c<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Emirates<\/a> Dubai-Brisbane\u00a0flight saved 3,508 kilograms (7,718 pounds) and Virgin Australia burned 2,733\u00a0kilograms (6,013 pounds) less jet fuel than average consumption on the routes.<\/p>\n

Because\u00a0of the optimized nature of the flights, times were also improved, \u201cwith the\u00a0Emirates flight to Brisbane, for example, shaving 51 minutes off the normal\u00a0flight time.\u201d\u00a0 As the Inspire organization explains on its web page<\/a>, the effect is symbiotic.\u00a0 “Each minute of flying-time saved reduces fuel consumption by an average of 62 liters\u00a0(16 gallons)\u00a0and reduces C02<\/sup> emissions by 160 kilograms (352 pounds).”<\/p>\n

Air\u00a0Services says that participants plan no further demonstration flights, but will\u00a0apply lessons learned to their daily practices.\u00a0 While part of Inspire\u2019s purpose was to \u201creduce\u00a0ATM constraints\u201d in the southwest region of the Indian Ocean and extend\u00a0the existing Australian\u00a0Organised Track System (AUSOTS)<\/a> program (which included \u201cflex tracks\u201d\u00a0in Australian airspace), its sister program Aspire has already been able to\u00a0implement best practices from earlier tests into daily route planning.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0February, the first daily city pair<\/a>, between Aukland, New Zealand and San\u00a0Francisco was flown, with routes between Los Angeles-Singapore, Sydney-San\u00a0Francisco, and Los Angeles-Melbourne to be added through September.<\/p>\n

City\u00a0pairs operate under optimal flight plan conditions; employ user-preferred\u00a0routes, dynamic airborne re-routing procedures, 30\/30 nautical mile separation over\u00a0oceans, time-based arrivals management; and arrivals, departure, and surface\u00a0movement optimization.<\/p>\n

Emirates\u00a0Airlines estimates emission savings on its Australian flights of 9.6 million liters (2.5\u00a0million U. S. gallons) of fuel and 24,268 tons of carbon dioxide emissions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn\u00a02011, based on an estimated 63 flights per week, approximate savings for the\u00a0year will be around 2.47 million liters of fuel and 6,850 tons of carbon\u00a0 dioxide, says the airline. \u00a0Captain Alan Stealey, divisional senior \u00advice-president\u00a0of flight operations at Emirates, says: \u2018These flights illustrate that Emirates’ long-term strategy to address environmental \u00adconcerns has become a\u00a0part of the everyday \u00adoperating fabric of our organization.\u2019”<\/p>\n

With ongoing reporting that shows participating\u00a0airlines achieving near 100-percent performance levels <\/a>in meeting flight efficiency goals, the future looks bright.\u00a0 \u201cFor whatever reason, there are few reports or figures on surface\u00a0operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Difficulties may ensue if political battles prevent\u00a0the unified action from the many nations involved.\u00a0 That\u2019s the subject of the third and final entry\u00a0in this series, but nowhere near the end of the topic.<\/p>\n

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