Contrails, the wispy white streaks that sometimes form behind aircraft, have long been a subject of interest – sparking debates about their environmental impact, their role in climate change, and even fuelling conspiracy theories.

As part of our work to reduce the aviation industry’s non-CO2 emissions, we’re exploring measures to mitigate the impact of contrails – the visible trails of ice crystals that can form behind aircraft flying at high altitudes. Siân Andrews joined over 2,250 scientists, researchers and policymakers at the CANSO/EUROCONTROL Sustainable Skies Conference in Brussels recently to present our work in this area, and how it could contribute to the global push for climate neutrality and sustainability.

We’ve been working with European partners on several solutions to increase airspace capacity and cost efficiency; improve safety and predictability and provide greater fuel efficiency and environmental sustainability.  We are testing a new systemised airspace management tool (SYSMAN) and how it interacts with queue management systems especially Arrival Manager (AMAN), and Airport Demand Capacity Balancing (Airport-DCB).