Today, arriving traffic is managed and sequenced in the airspace close to the airport. Faced with increasing traffic, airports are looking for ways to overcome congestion and reduce the need for holding. Extended-AMAN (E-AMAN) allows for the sequencing of arrival traffic much earlier than is currently the case, by extending the AMAN horizon from the airspace close to the airport to further upstream and so allowing more smooth traffic management.
Reduction of an average 250 KG CO2 savings per flight over a sample of 726 flights that were instructed by ATC to reduce speed in flight to absorb delay instead of having to absorb delay by holding at low level near the airport (Source: based on PJ25 data for trials London long-range AMAN).
SESAR is moving away from traditional staircase descent operations, where aircraft repeatedly level off and power up the engines, which burns more fuel. With optimised descent, aircraft can descend to the runway in a smooth, continuous path with the engines set at near idle.
Reduction of 180 Kg for CO2 per flight, measured over 81 SWISS flights arriving into Vienna, measured by the ODP trial when testing a new procedure that raised the transfer level between ACCs (from Karlsruhe to Vienna) by 3000 ft. The new procedure was published and remained in operation after the trial.
Aircraft fly an average of 20 km further than the most direct route between two points. With the SESAR Solution, free route, airlines do not have to opt for the fixed route network, but rather fly their most optimised route in terms of flight and fuel efficiency.
Reduction of 50 Kg of CO2 per ECAC flight thanks to ECAC-wide en-route cross-border free routing (Source: data from Wave 1 PJ.06-01 PAR).
SESAR is moving away from traditional staircase climb operations, where aircraft repeatedly level off which burns more fuel and requires air traffic controllers to issue instructions at each step. With optimised climbs, aircraft can reach cruising altitude in continuous, more energy efficient path.
Pool of benefits for flights that have restrictions on their climb is up to 48 Kg of CO2 per flight
(Source Eurocontrol)
Did you know that changing the angle of approach on final descent can allow the reduction of separation buffers between landing aircraft, and hence reduce fuel burn. A higher angle of approach also reduces a flight’s noise and air quality impacts.
Using an increased glide slope in the approach can reduce noise exposure area by 15%, according to data from studies performed in the environment of Gatwick, Dublin and Paris Orly (Source: data from Wave 1 PJ.02-02 OSED Part V, table 16).
Even before it takes off, a taxiing aircraft has already burned an estimated 130 Kg of fuel resulting in 400 Kg of CO2 emissions! After landing, aircraft continue burning fuel when taxiing all the way to their stand, releasing an additional 200 Kg of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Using airport-based e-taxiing techniques could reduce ground emissions by over 50% (Source: data from SESAR project ALBATROSS, based on their work towards achieving the first large scale deployment of green taxi using sustainable taxi vehicles at Schiphol airport).
Migratory birds such as geese often fly in formation to save energy by taking advantage of the changed airflow in each bird's wake. Like a bird, a moving airplane leaves a wake of disturbed air, creating an updraft that allows a following aircraft to cut down on engine thrust, fuel use and emissions. The SESAR 3 JU is applying the notion of wake energy retrieval (WER) into air traffic operations within Europe.
It is estimated an aircraft flying in the wake of another aircraft can burn 5-10% less fuel. This will be applied for the cruise portion of the flight, and is of particular interest for long-haul transatlantic flights. For a transatlantic flight, the fuel savings could translate into a reduction in CO2 emissions of at least 15.000 Kg per flight, even for the most efficient long-haul aircraft like the A350 (Source: SESAR 3 JU).
In current operations, clearances for climb and descent are often given incrementally. The new SESAR enhanced vertical clearances concept takes advantage of the knowledge on the aircraft performance on the ground thanks to the EPP data to allow longer vertical clearances, to be delivered via datalink. The new clearances typically include the requirement for the aircraft to cross one or more waypoints at specific altitudes, thereby avoiding the need for intermediate level-offs.
An A320 avoiding a 100 NM intermediate level-off in the climb phase just 4000 ft. below its optimal flight level will reduce its CO2 emissions by 90 Kg (Source: figures from the MUAC presentation at the ASW2022, slide 18).
Many airports today still rely on separate tools to manage arrival and departure streams, leading to unnecessary holdings, delays and fuel burn. By integrating arrival and departure management, airports can better balance inbound and outbound traffic demand, allowing for better planning and assuring on-time arrivals and departures with minimum emissions.
Thanks to reduced time at the runway holding point before departure and reduced arrival flight time, CO2 emissions are reduced on average 26,15 Kg per flight (Source: data from SORT WP5 ENVAR).
Did you know that aviation’s non-CO2 emissions also have an impact on the climate? It is estimated that the overall impact on climate change of non-CO2 emissions could be as much as twice the impact of CO2 emissions. The warming effect of non-CO2 emissions can be dramatically reduced by aircraft avoiding climate-sensitive areas. SESAR researchers are investigating ways to reroute aircraft around these areas, thereby enabling more eco-efficient flights.
Results showed that depending on the prevailing weather situation, high resolution environmental information provided as part of the MET service could enable the optimisation of aircraft trajectories with the potential to reduce the climate impact by around 20% for specific routes.