CansoAirline fuel-saving strategies "can outpace forecast airline greenhouse gas emissions" - new report
May 1, 2007 PMI-Media. Airlines, airports and air navigation service providers will be able to cut civil aircraft emission levels by more than 6% a year for the next ten years by adopting a range of new operating procedures, according to a new report Aviation growth and global warming, produced by independent Anglo-German aerospace information company PMI-Media Ltd. These potential savings are greater than the forecast rise in traffic levels over 2007-2017.
The report, compiled by a board of independent consultants, analyses a range of potential ways of optimising the fuel-use performance of current-generation aircraft and engines, thereby cutting the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides. It quantifies potential emission savings in a number of key areas including:
- Fleet optimisation and new aircraft acquisition strategies
- Less fuel-consuming taxiing, ground-power and airfield operations
- Improvements in air traffic management procedures (such as more accurate flight planning to minimise fuel loads, shorter routes, more flexible routes to exploit prevailing weather conditions and continuous descent approaches)
- Aerodynamic improvements (such as the fitting of winglets)
- Introducing lighter cabin equipment and replacing hydraulic and other heavy systems with electric equipment
- Alternative fuels
- Flying at lower speeds and lower heights
"A new generation of cleaner-burning engines should be available by 2020," said PMI Media analyst Rainer Vogel, "but the world can't wait until then for environmental improvements from the aviation industry. By operating the current generation of aircraft more efficiently aircraft operators and their partners could find savings greater than the forecast emission levels of greenhouse gases caused by greater demands for airline travel."
The report seeks to answer the following questions:
- What are the key operating improvements available to aircraft operators seeking to reduce their annual fuel consumption bill?
- When will new aircraft, engine and other technologies become available aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions? What are these technologies?
- What will be the impact of emission trading schemes, and other regulatory initiatives, on airline greenhouse gas emissions?
- What is the range of current scientific opinion about the impact of aircraft operations on climate change?
- Which are the key research programmes which will deliver reduced greenhouse gas emissions at source?
- Which long-term proposals - for example, blended wing designs, formation flying, alternative fuels - offer the best opportunities to develop next-generation environmentally friendly aircraft?
- Which are the key enabling technologies - and investment opportunities - which will deliver improved fuel efficiencies in the near future? And which technologies are promising more than they will deliver?
The report will be available in hard copy and in electronic format and is complemented by free downloads from an online library containing all major sources on the subject.
Aviation growth and global warming will be published on May 25, 2007.
For more information on the report, please visit www.pmi-media.com, or contact Rainer Vogel on +49 7305 927292 or rainer.vogel @ pmi-media.com.
About PMI Media International:
PMI Media Ltd is a global publishing company with offices in the UK, Germany and North America.
