‘Research and Markets’ have provided us with some uplifting news this week, announcing the release of their new ‘Airports go green’ report. As we’ve noted in recent weeks, airports have made significant contributions in fighting climate change by adopting numerous strategies to limit their emissions. ‘Airports go green’ is dishing out some well-deserved praise to those airports that have acted to reduce their environmental impact, offering case studies and explaining the initiatives that have been taken. It is just this type of encouragement which will create the incentive for others to follow!

New cross-industry agreements are resulting in further improvements in the environmental performance of aircrafts. For example, the long-term supply agreement established this week between Honeywell and China Southern Airlines, which will see new Auxiliary Power Units installed in their Airbus A320’s and Boeing Next-Generation 737’s. This move is set to reduce fuel consumption by 5% per aircraft.
 
Looking forward, Airbus is expected to make an announcement in the coming weeks on the new winglet programme for the Airbus A320 family… once it has decided which winglet design it will use! Airbus has already said it will go ahead with the programme which will reduce fuel burn by 2% – 4% depending on the design chosen. So now all that’s left is to make the final decision: an Aviation Partners blended winglet design, or an Airbus-own design interestingly called "sharklets"?