Flying into a brave new world

Captain David Morgan (left), with Captain Keith Pattie before their biofuel test flight. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions was the key issue for the aircraft and engine makers, maintenance providers and airport representatives who gathered in Washington last week for the second annual Eco-Aviation Conference.

The situation facing the aviation industry was summed up by the representative of a US organisation, the Natural Resources Defence Council, who told the conference that emission controls are coming; aviation has to find ways to live in a carbon-constrained world; and no emissions source can be growing in absolute terms if the challenge of global warming is to be solved.

That view is shared by Air New Zealand, which for the second year played a leading role at the conference. Following a keynote speech last year by chief executive Rob Fyfe, last week Captain Dave Morgan, the company's General Manager Airline Operations and Chief Pilot, made separate presentations on Air NZ's testing of biofuel and its involvement in improving air traffic management and operational efficiencies.

Morgan used the occasion to announce the results of the December test flight of a B747-400 aircraft using a 50/50 mix of Jatropha sustainable biofuel and traditional Jet A1 fuel in one engine. The report, prepared by Air NZ, Boeing and Rolls Royce, showed that over a 12-hour flight, improvement in fuel burn saved 1.4 tonnes of fuel, resulting in a reduction of around 4.5 tonnes of CO2. Compared with petroleum-derived fuel, the results indicated a 60-65 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Morgan said Air NZ had a team looking at several biofuel options, aiming to settle on one that can be tested to meet the requirements for international certification. It remained committed to having 10 per cent of the airline's fuel needs met by alternative fuels by 2013.

He also outlined the airline's test "tailored approach" flights into San Francisco and Los Angeles, involving a constant descent approach, and the various measures taken in its domestic operations to save fuel. Morgan has since told this writer that Air NZ wants tailored arrival to become the norm. Domestic airports apart, he points out that it would be particularly appropriate, for example, at Sydney, where transtasman flights have to approach from the west to an airport served mostly by aircraft operating on a north-south axis.

Morgan also referred to its operation of flights by Required Navigation Performance (RNP), under which appropriately equipped aircraft can safely operate routes with less separation from other aircraft than previously required. By increasing the number of aircraft that can safely use a particular airspace, RNP can accommodate the increasing demand for air traffic capacity. RNP is already used at Queenstown to allow for the mountainous terrain and adverse weather, but Morgan says the procedure could also be used to improve traffic efficiency at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Trials are planned this year.

Southwest Airlines, the pioneering US low-cost carrier, has also adopted RNP. The airline's senior director flight operations, Jeff Martin, told the conference that after successfully testing RNP between Dallas and Houston, Southwest now uses it "100 per cent of the time". The controlled and managed environment achieved provides for shorter flight paths and continuous descent arrivals, resulting in a 6 per cent reduction in fuel use, and also cuts noise and CO2 emissions.

Robert Callahan, president of Flight Sciences International, an aviation consultancy specialising in fuel conservation and cost-saving programmes, told the conference that fuel accounted for 57 per cent of the cost of putting a plane in the sky. He said optimising flight plans could secure huge savings, but argued that virtually every other aspect of the airline business - from maintenance to in-flight services - affected costs. He calculated that every kilogram of weight over a year represented a cost of US$135 ($214) for an A320 aircraft, and US$235 for an A330.

Representatives of the engine makers - Rolls Royce, Pratt & Whitney and General Electric - also told their story.

Paul Randall, Rolls Royce's strategic marketing manager future programmes, claimed that aircraft engines would make the single biggest impact in the medium term by reducing fuel burn by up to 30 per cent, with corresponding reductions in emissions. Competition between Boeing and Airbus had pushed the boundaries in all sizes of aircraft, but he noted that narrow-bodied aircraft in the 150-seat range - such as Boeing's 737 and Airbus' 320 - accounted for 53 per cent of operations worldwide and 61 per cent of fuel use.

As replacements for those aircraft would not be seen until towards the end of the next decade, the focus was on new engine development, with each of the manufacturers pushing their claims to superiority.

Representatives from the "airframe makers" - Boeing, Airbus and Bombardier - each made their claims concerning other improvements to their aircraft, especially in reducing overall weight and the effect of drag, with winglets introduced on many planes.

Airbus had made several upgrades to its A330/A340 aircraft since they entered service in 1993, had introduced the double-deck A380, and was now in the early stages of production of its A350-XWB aircraft in response to Boeing's revolutionary B787, the first of which are to be flight-tested in the coming months. For its part, Boeing referred to nine improvements to its B737 since 1997, while also introducing the B777-200ER and 300ER as replacements for the B747-400.

The regulators also made their presence felt at the conference, with the obligations of airlines under the EU's emissions trading scheme spelt out. Each foreign carrier flying to and from the EU will be dealt with by a particular EU member country. In New Zealand's case that will be Britain, or more specifically the English Environment Agency.

Although the scheme proper does not come into effect for foreign airlines until 2012, their obligations begin in a few months. So, in respect of its British flights, Air NZ is required to submit to the regulator its Emissions Plan and related documents for 2010 by the end of August. It will then be required to start monitoring emissions from 2010 and to submit its first annual emissions report for 2010 by the end of March 2011.

With its reduced emissions record, Air NZ will also submit its "Benchmarking Plan" for activity levels in 2010 in order to be allocated free carbon allowances in the first year, 2012.

It is surely a new world for the aviation industry.
David Stone is an independent aviation writer and consultant. He attended the Eco-Aviation Conference at the invitation of its presenters, Air Transport World and Leeham Company, and his travel was assisted by Air NZ.