American Airlines (Dallas/Fort Worth) yesterday conducted a “greener” flight between Paris (CDG) and the Miami hub.
Through the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE), American will be the first U.S. airline to test next-generation technology and procedures that will significantly reduce carbon emissions and save fuel on trans-Atlantic routes. The testing will be conducted during a normally scheduled flight so American can obtain real-time benefits.
AIRE, a joint initiative among the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the European Commission (EC), and several international airlines, is designed to speed up application of new technologies and operational procedures, which have a direct impact on reducing carbon emissions and noise pollution as well as conserving fuel. Part of the AIRE project includes gate-to-gate flight demonstrations to test the benefits of technologies that will be used with the FAA’s NextGen and the EC’s Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) air traffic management systems.
Using a Boeing 767-300 aircraft, American Flight 63 will fly from Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport and will arrive at Miami International Airport at 2:25 p.m. EDT. The flight will be conducted using several fuel conservation measures, including single-engine taxi on departure and arrival, continuous climb-out and descent, optimized routing over water, and a “tailored arrival.” Among those procedures are several key elements of Fuel Smart, American‘s existing fuel conservation program. In 2010, American aims to increase its annual fuel savings rate to 120 million gallons, which will also reduce carbon emissions by 2.5 billion pounds.
Post-flight data analysis by the FAA, EC and American will determine the carbon and fuel savings gained on the demonstration flight. The FAA and American have conducted trials in Miami since last year to determine the best way to use the next-generation technology.
Read the full press release:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/American-Airlines-EcoFriendly-prnews-1074327005.html?x=0&.v=1