We recently attended the Sustainable Skies World Summit in Farnborough with representatives from across the aviation industry as Sustainable Aviation (SA) announced its updated roadmap to Net Zero. The Summit unites industry leaders from across the world to discuss the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead on the path to Net Zero. With panel speakers […]

With the operational “O” date for West Airspace Deployment (West) only one week away (the day the airspace changes go live), you might be wondering what actually happens on the day.

We’re now less than a month away from West Airspace Deployment (West) and we are busy finalising preparations for implementation.

West will transform the way UK airspace is structured above 7,000ft over southwest England and Wales, helping us towards the industry’s 2050 net zero target and modernising the route network to enable a simpler and safer future for air travel.

Over the past two years, our Operational Service Enhancement Programme (OSEP) has deployed six tranches of change to airspace across the country, enabling some 30,000 tonnes of CO2 savings annually throughout the European and UK network, equivalent to the emissions from the energy usage of over 8,000 homes. 

It is now a scientific certainty that the impact of contrails and contrail-induced cirrus clouds, despite their relatively short lifetime, have at least an equivalent impact on the climate as CO2 emissions, and potentially up to twice that. What can we do about it?

The latest forecasts suggest Europe’s summer traffic levels will be close to 85% of what we saw before the pandemic, with flight numbers even exceeding pre-Covid levels at certain times and in certain places.

Building on the research and the experience of live trials with SATAVIA, we hope to get a better understanding of what contrail formation means for our controllers and operation over the North Atlantic and how we could implement avoidance strategies without increasing fuel consumption, and CO2 emissions.

Earlier this month, I was invited to present at the Asia Pacific (APAC) Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation CEO Committee Meeting to talk about our recent deployment of Free Route Airspace and the benefits it could deliver across the region.

FlyZero is looking to realise the UK’s ambition to develop a zero-carbon emission aircraft. Nearly a year on the project has reported its findings, which demonstrate the huge potential of green liquid hydrogen to power even long-haul aircraft.