SESAR and a number of its demonstration projects have been included as part of the Aviation Climate Solutions, a collection of 100 examples of how the aviation industry is collaborating to cut carbon dioxide emissions and help reduce its impact on climate change.
Michael Gill, Executive Director of the Air Transport Action Group, a cross-industry association that published the report, said: “Aviation plays a vital role in the world economy, providing connectivity for people and business. Our industry has also taken a lead in climate action, putting in place a comprehensive framework and goals to reduce emissions from air transport. The Aviation Climate Solutions are a set of case studies showing how different parts of the industry all over the world, including SESAR are working together to reduce our climate impact.”
Florian Guillermet, Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Undertaking: “We are delighted to see the work of these SESAR demonstration projects recognised for improving aviation’s environmental performance. They have shown how SESAR solutions bring significant benefits in terms of efficiency and in addressing aviation’s impact on the environment. We look forward to seeing these solutions deployed throughout Europe in the coming years.”
Aviation Climate Solutions was released at the Global Sustainable Aviation Summit in Geneva, Switzerland, alongside an open letter from industry chief executives which reaffirms the industry’s commitment to climate action; and calls on governments to support it with the development of a global market-based measure for aviation emissions, improved efficiency in air traffic management and accelerating research for alternative fuels and new technology.
In 2008, the aviation sector became the first to set global goals to proactively manage its climate change impact. The industry will stabilise its net CO2 emissions from 2020 through a concept called carbon-neutral growth, whereby traffic would continue to rise to meet the demands of society and the economy, but growth would be offset through a global market-based measure. The longer-term goal is to actually reduce net CO2 emissions from aviation to half of what they were in 2005, by 2050.
SESAR featured demonstrations
ENGAGE PHASE II: This project built on the success of ENGAGE PHASE I by demonstrating the safety of performing variable aircraft (Mach) speed and flight altitudes over the North Atlantic. With a much broader scope than the 2011 first round of the initiative, ENGAGE II retained the objective of reducing emissions and fuel burn, but with a much wider airspace catchment area, extending both North and South of the original trials. The larger airspace served to encompass a greater number of eligible flights, thus increasing the probability of successfully demonstrating that the procedures are feasible and safe.
AMBER: This project has demonstrated the capability of turboprop aircraft to fly tailored Required Navigation Performance – Authorisation Required (RNP-AR) approaches together with Continuous Descent Operations (CDO), in order to shorten arrival tracks and to reduce both noise and associated CO2 emissions. Two RNP-AR approach tracks were designed for Riga International Airport, each of which with several entry points to the airport’s TMA. These approaches were designed and tested in a simulator and then approved by Latvia’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), before being released for flight trials on regular scheduled flights under Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC).
FRAMaK: This project has shown that free route capabilities are possible within congested and complex airspaces that cross national borders and ANSP boundaries. The project also aimed to show that these capabilities can have a positive impact in terms of reduced flight times and fuel burn.
GREENER WAVE: The project demonstrated the feasibility of reducing the volumes CO2 emitted during the first arrival wave of long-haul flights in Zurich by addressing efficiency considerations within the active steering and planning of such incoming flights. The introduction to an alternative to a “first-come, first-serve” for some 15 000 flights revealed a 75% decrease in the time spent in holdings Overall, the savings in CO2 emissions achieved amount to 1 800 tonnes a year.
REACT-Plus: The project performed continuous descent operations (CDO) and continuous climb operations (CCO) both at and from Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport using a new tool – the Merge Strip – which aims to enhance situational awareness and provides Distance-To-Go (DTG) information to pilots. The project measured the extent to which CDO and CCO decreases fuel burn when implemented at the target destination airport.
TOPFLIGHT: The project demonstrated SESAR procedures designed to allow transatlantic flights to follow a trajectory as close as possible to their Reference Business Trajectories (RBT) while remaining de-conflicted and meeting their Arrival Manager (AMAN) sequenced times of arrival. TOPFLIGHT also assessed the use of Cross Border Arrival Manager (XMAN) by extending the Arrival Manager horizon for London Heathrow inbounds to 350NM.