Under new European regulation, all airlines flying in and out of Europe will be required to reduce carbon gas emission by 3% by the end of 2012. Yet movements this week would suggest many airlines are willing to go further…

Thai Airlines International intends to achieve 50% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, taking up the industry-wide targets layed out through ATAG. Working together with the Corporate Social Responsibility programme, they are aiming to reduce GHG emission on all flights through fuel and energy saving methods. One of the most effective ways for airlines to improve their energy and fuel efficiency is by modernising their fleet - this week, Thai Airways announced they would be acquiring 15 new energy-efficient aircraft by 2014!

Another airline is exceeding expectations, gaining recognition from a group of green advocates from the government, business and citizens' group in Seoul. This group, who make up the Climate Change Forum, awarded Asiana Airlines with a prize for its efforts in reducing carbon emissions through their carbon offsetting program, reducing weights of flights and cleaning engines to save fuel. The result has seen a carbon reduction of 30,000 tonnes from 2008.

Finnair has been looking beyond the air and the ground for measures in which they can contribute to global environmental efforts, announcing this week that they will be supporting the Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG) in its work to improve the state of the Baltic Sea – the world’s most polluted sea. The idea behind the BSAG is to obtain as high quality research data as possible to support practical measures to restore the Baltic Sea and ensure that the right steps are taken for the good of the sea. Finnair's participation in the BSAG involves helping with travel arrangements, enhancing visibility and offering the possibility of donating Finnair Plus points. By donating 75,000 Finnair Plus points to BSAG, Finnair's frequent flyers can donate oil-spill containment boom to the rescue department, which provides protection against irreversible damage in the event of an accident.

This week the aviation industry has had its focus on developing alternative energy both on the ground and in the air. East Midlands Airport announced plans to have four giant wind turbines built by the end of this year, which will be used to generate electricity for the airport. The turbines will generate 900 kilowatt hours of electricity – without any emissions to pollute the environment – which is enough to cover about 10% of the airport's energy needs. This project is part of a wider plan to make the airport's ground operations carbon neutral.

Airports in the US, in Texas, Dallas, Las Vegas and Houston, have the same goal of carbon neutrality, but are concentrating on a different initiative to take them there. Working together with Clean Energy Fuels, the airports have all set up major new airport compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling business. At these airports, Clean Energy will build a public access CNG fueling stations which will support the growing fleets of off-airport parking shuttle fleets, on-airport courtesy shuttle vehicles as well as taxis and private CNG fleet vehicles.

A new report has been published which outlines various case studies looking at the efforts that have been made over the past years by airports aimed at cutting emissions and improving efficiency… just so they know their efforts are not being ignored!

This week has also seen a major announcement from Qatar Airways, Qatar Science & Technology Park and Qatar Petroleum, with the support of Airbus. These companies are to jointly develop production of an alternative fuel for aircraft. Following a feasibility study into bio fuel seven months ago, the initiative now establishes the Qatar Advanced Biofuel Platform to develop the fuel. Initially Qatar Airways will be a dedicated end-user, but there is a view to opening the production out to other airlines and companies. Yet whilst deals are being struck on the ground, it is not without movement in the air - this initiative comes just months after Qatar Airways completed the world's first commercial flight powered by a Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) fuel blend. And again, efforts are not unnoticed - even Qatar's deputy premier Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah has shown excitement over the “tremendous” prospects this work has shown!

And there’s one more… monthly magazine Air Transport World selected Air New Zealand as its Airline of the Year for 2010. As well as recognition for its commitment to safety and operational excellence, the airline was specifically praised for its environmental initiatives, including conducting the world's first sustainable biofuel flight. While they are not doing it for the praise of awards, it does go to show that being an environmental leader is recognised.

The first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner took place yesterday. The event was webcasted for the whole world to watch via a feed Boeing provided on their website. They had set up seven cameras around Paine Field in Everett, Washington to record the maiden flight, which is still available to watch on-demand.
 

“You’re next holiday may be powered by weeds” wrote Dominic O’Connell in the Sunday Times this week and indeed he may be right... Last week we saw a passenger biofuel flight by KLM and the last in a series of ‘MINT’ flights; this week sees development through British Airways who have taken a big step into the world of biofuels by starting trials in conjunction with Rolls-Royce. The trails involve conducting largescale ground tests of a range of fuels made from plants and will take place as of next year. BA will buy up to 240 tonnes of four kinds of biofuels for its research. The data generated by the tests should help speed the certification of the fuels for commercial use, with regulatory approval expected towards the end of next year.

Latin American airliner, GOL, announced this week their plan to have all aircraft be equipped with sensors to enable the use of the GPS Landing System, as well as Vertical Situation Display, as of January 2010. GOL predicts the GPS Landing System will become the dominant global technology in the near future. This equipment permits continuous ascent or descent which reduces fuel consumption and the emission of environmentally harmful gases by up to 15% in these flight stages. Enhancing this is the Vertical Situation Display which allows pilots to accurately identify, from the cockpit, information on ground relief and obstacles therefore permitting more efficient landing planning, reducing landing component wear and tear and, consequently, future maintenance expenses.

Elsewhere, there has been a request to ‘Switch off!’ by Stansted airport as they launch their new energy awareness campaign. Rather than leaving appliances on standby, airport staff are encouraged to save power by switching off therefore saving power, reducing emissions and by transferring this practice to home as well, saving some money on energy bills! This initiative is a part of the airport’s Energy Management Plan to reduce CO2 emissions from airport buildings and infrastructure by 30% by 2020, compared to 1990 levels. Other initiatives at Stansted include installation of a biomass boiler which has brought a 75% saving on gas consumption in the terminal building, use of movement sensors in office areas to turn lights off when areas aren't in use and a move to introduce low energy lighting across the airfield.

At the Arab Aviation Summit in Doha last weekend, ‘Sky Blue’, the aviation industry in the Arab region has been sharing best practices and determining their priorities in order to achieve the industry-wide targets that will be set at the Copenhagen Climate Summit next month. Aviation in the Arab region has a very low emissions output, in part due to the comparatively new fleets of aircraft operating in the region, and also through the development of alternative energy methods. Qatar Airways sets a good example with their development of gas-to-liquids (GTL) aviation fuel – a sustainable fuel which burns greatly reduce carbon emissions in comparison to conventional oil-based petroleum. Qatar Airways made history in October this year by being the first airline to power a flight from London Gatwick to Doha on a fuel made of natural gas, and is expected to become the world’s leading producer of GTL kerosene when it is put into commercial production from 2012.

Also in the news this week, director-general and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Giovanni Bisignani has expressed how he believes the aviation industry can act as a model for Copenhagen climate talks. Aviation, Bisignani says, is a “microcosm of the climate change debate” and can lead the way with much-needed solutions needed from this conference, demonstrated already with the ambitious targets the industry has made for 2020 and 2050. Bisignani points out to the impressive track record the industry has shown, with achievements such as 70 million tons of CO2 saved by IATA in the last 5 years through operational solutions. Sustainable biofuels could further reduce aviation’s carbon footprint by up to 80%. Progress is indeed fast moving, and even just this week, KLM became the first airline to carry out a test flight carrying passengers, that was fuelled on 50% camelina, a biofuel, and 50% traditional fuel.

Another test flight took place this week – the last of a series of 10 that had been part of the ‘Minimum CO2 in Terminal Manoeuvring Area’ (MINT) project. The project has seen a series of 10 test flights in all which were investigating how modern aircraft can support performance based operations. The results showed significant reductions in emissions with savings of around 518 kg of CO2, reduced noise impact, and improvement of the predictability in the air transport system. MINT uses systems such as GPS and Required Navigation Performance, and operations such as Continuous Descent Arrival.

Effort has been truly industry-wide this week, with praise due across the board from engine manufacturers to airports for their improvements in regards to their environmental performance. 

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has been named the Air Navigation Services Provider of the Year by the Centre of Asia Pacific Aviation. CAAS has been recognised for its achievements in operational efficiencies that improve fuel efficiency thus reducing costs and emissions, such as the improved management and shortening of routes.

DFW International Airport in Texas has also been reducing emissions and has been recognised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its efforts. The airport was recently pushed up to number 11 in the EPA’s top 20 Local Government List of the largest green power purchasers. The airport purchases nearly 53 million kWh of green power per year, which is enough to meet 18% of the organization’s purchased electricity use. According to the EPA, this is equivalent to avoiding the CO2 emissions of nearly 7,000 passenger vehicles per year, or is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power more than 5,000 average American homes annually.

Frankfurt Airport looks set to make improvements in this area as well. A project has been launched to look into the potential of the Walldorf deep-earth geothermal field as resource for renewable energy. If all goes well, the partners will construct a hybrid power plant, which will use geothermal power and biogas to produce electricity and heat which will then be used to supply Frankfurt Airport with renewable energy, so fingers crossed!

And finally, Rolls Royce won a contract this week with Virgin Atlantic to power ten of the carriers’ aircraft with its state of the art Trent 700 engines. Six of the aircraft that are to be supplied are Airbus model A330’s, which will feature an enhanced performance version of the Trent 700… and what does that mean? These enhanced Trent 700’s improve engine fuel burn by a further 1.3% over the regular models, helping Virgin Atlantic’s to pursue its mission to fly a modern fleet with the most fuel efficient technology available.

In other news, the Doha Aviation Summit2009 this week brought together internationally recognised associations, civil aviation authorities, ministries of aviation, airports, airlines and leading service providers to discuss various current issues the industry is facing. Much time was dedicated to the industry’s action on tackling environmental issues, with input in particular from Christohpe Cros from Airbus, who offered advice to the aviation market on new technology that lowers emissions and works towards a carbon neutral aviation industry. The conference suitably concluded with a 'Green Aviation' day where panelists discussed the carbon free future of aviation providing different perspective on development and deployment of new technologies, efficient usage of infrastructure, progress and utilisation of alternative fuels and the role of the government and institutional bodies in ensuring the carbon neutral growth.

Japanese airline ANA, has been setting the standards high this month for finding original and effective ideas that cut carbon emissions. The latest addition to ANA’s innovative schemes is their unique carbon offset programme, which allows passengers to offset the impact of their flight directly through their mobile phone. Codes are printed on posters and pamphlets in airports where ANA operates for passengers to scan using their phones. They then receive information on the amount of CO2 emitted during their flight and the cost of offsetting these emissions, with an option to make a donation directly through their phone to cover these costs. Given its simplicity, this carbon offsetting scheme is expected to be a big success – predictions are that 400,000 passengers will take part in this scheme annually, resulting in a cut of 31,600 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.

This week also saw Rolls-Royce officially introduce their newest engine from the AE 3007 series – the AE 3007A2, for use in the Embraer large executive jet, the Legacy 650. The new engine boasts superior performance than its predecessor and greater fuel efficiency, particularly over long ranges. It is expected to enter into service next year!

Some of you may have seen the IATA-produced film "Destination Zero". They have recently released an updated version to include the industry-wide targets and goals announced in the last month. The video is available on YouTube.

It’s all happening in the Far East this week, where some significant alliances have been achieved with regards to the aviation sector.

China, for example, is expected to become Boeing’s research and development partner for environmentally friendly technologies designed to improve the environmental performance of aircraft. A key part of their partnership will be to develop biofuels, with a near term plan expected to involve the commercialisation of jatropha. China itself has impressive resources of jatropha and other biofuel feedstocks– by 2020 it is expecting to have developed 13 million hectares of biofuel plantations; that’s enough to yield 6 million tonnes of biodiesel annually.

Travelling a little further East and Japan has just recently become the latest member of ASPIRE – an initiative focused on improving the efficiency of aircraft operations with the ultimate aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Being a big player in the aviation industry, Japan’s move to join ASPIRE represents a big step up in collective efforts to limit the industry’s environmental impact. To mark this event, Japan Airlines completed the latest ASPIRE flight demonstration – a flight from Honolulu to Osaka which included the most efficient, advanced technologies and procedures; including just-in-time fueling, preferred routes over the ocean, optimising speed and altitude and using a tailored-arrival approach to the destination airport.

Gulf Air is also making moves to maximize efficiency as it officially begins its fleet renewal programme for Airbus with the arrival of the first 10 A320’s, which will replace the older narrow-body aircrafts. Airbus’ innovations and performance advances have made the aircraft more operationally efficient, reducing costs and fuel burn which allows for better environmental performance. And the A320’s also have a special feature… they use a chromate-free paint which requires 15% less paint when applied to the aircraft, resulting in lighter aircraft, less fuel burn and so ultimately less aircraft CO2 emissions – clever thinking!

A UK aviation coalition including airport operators BAA, airlines BA and Virgin Atlantic and the CAA have published a new interim code of practice this week, designed to help cut aircraft emissions by reducing fuel burn from aircraft at airports. The document is technical in nature, and so primarily targeted at pilots, flight planners and airport operators who are collectively encouraged to get involved in methods such as single-engine taxiing, once safety considerations are assured. By shutting down an engine during taxi-in operations pilots are told they could achieve reductions of 20-40% of the ground level fuel burn and CO2 emissions, and 10-30% of ground NOx emissions, depending on aircraft type and operator technique.

The environmental practices that are highlighted in the document are also said to deliver significant improvements to noise and local air quality at airports and reduce costs to airlines. Thus as well as providing global environmental benefits, it delivers additional local benefits to people living and working around airports.

The voluntary set of guidelines has been published ahead of the full version of the code that is expected to be finalised early next year, which will include advice on the use of airport terminal and ground power rather than running the aircraft's auxiliary power unit, 'continuous climb departures', and collaborative decision making to deliver further improvements.