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A promising trial flight to foster green aviation initiatives
Egis Avia participated to the MINT Seminar which took place in Stockholm, Sweden on November 25th. The MINT project (Minimum CO2 in Terminal Manoeuvring Area) is carried out in the context of the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE). AIRE is an agreement between the European Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to minimise the adverse effects of air traffic on the environment (CO2 emissions and noise impact). AIRE is a major component of the SESAR programme (Single European Sky Air Traffic Management and Research) which aims at aims at restructuring the European air traffic management (ATM).
This Seminar gathered distinguished representatives of the SESAR Joint Undertaking, Eurocontrol, the European Commission, Sweden’s Minister of Transport and Communications as well as other eminent stakeholders of the MINT project (Novair, AVTECH, LFV, Airbus, GE Aviation, Thales Air Systems, Thales Aerospace et Egis Avia).
During the seminar, Novair airline executed a demonstration flight which concluded a series of 10 flight trials in terminal manoeuvring area (TMA) at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport. Pilots of Novair Airbus A321 flew a specific procedure based on trajectory optimisation* and demonstrated savings of 350 kg of fuel while meeting an air traffic control time gate with accuracy of less than 2 seconds. If this flight was the most impressive and significant in terms of positive gains, previous flights had already demonstrated promising results with average savings of 165 kg of fuel per flight, i.e. 500 kg of carbon dioxide reduction.
Egis Avia actively takes part to the MINT project through the MAESTRO system, an airport sequencing tool dedicated to arrival and departure management. This solution for automated support optimises airspace and airport capacity and improves flight predictability as well. It is a key enabler to implement successful continuous descent procedure in heavy traffic conditions.
Through this new milestone, the MINT project clearly confirms the possibility to reduce air traffic’s environmental footprint and paves the way for other similar initiatives.
* These flights are based on the Required Navigation Performance (RNP) concept which enables aircraft to fly a specific route with greater navigation accuracy, derived from GPS and on-board Flight Management Systems. At the same time, the application of a controlled time of arrival (CTA), imposes time constraints and traffic control time gate meetings to the aircraft. Its trajectory is thus conditioned by 4-dimensions (including space and time).
