'Perfect flight' to Mexico City sees 40 per cent reduction in emissions

Tuesday June 19th 2012 - Airbus

Airbus and Air Canada say they have performed North America’s first “perfect flight” over international borders, with the goal of cutting CO2 emissions by more than 40 percent compared to a regular flight.

The commercial flight on an Airbus A319 from Toronto to Mexico City combined the use of a modern aircraft, powered by sustainable alternative fuels, guided by streamlined air traffic management procedures and facilitated through best practice operations to under-pin the industry’s four pillar strategy to tackle carbon emissions.

The Air Canada flight was the second of four biofuel flights taking the secretary general of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Raymond Benjamin, to Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

The biofuel was a 50 per cent blend made from used cooking oil, supplied by SkyNRG. In addition, efficiency was maximized in the air with the A329 flying the most direct route, using the most efficient vertical flight profile, and applying a continuous descent approach into Mexico City to save fuel and limit noise.

“[The] flight with Air Canada proves that the aviation industry is in a strong position to reduce emissions and fly many more perfect flights,” said Fabrice Brégier, Airbus President and CEO. “To make this a day-to-day commercial reality, it requires now a political will to foster incentives to scale up the use of sustainable biofuels and accelerate modernization of the air-traffic-management system. We need a clear endorsement by governments and all aviation stakeholders to venture beyond today’s limitations.”

 

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