Partnership with AIRE programme

The Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE) is a programme designed to improve energy efficiency and lower engine emissions and aircraft noise in cooperation with the FAA. The SESAR JU is responsible for its management from a European perspective.

Main AIRE objectives are:

Jointly validate solutions that reduce CO2 emissions in the short term
No, or little, R&D needed (capitalise on present aircraft capabilities)
Demonstrate benefits by performing flight trials in real operations
Communicate the initiative as an example on how the industry is reducing its environmental impact

Under AIRE ATM stakeholders work collaboratively to perform integrated flight trials and demonstrations validating solutions for the reduction of CO2 emissions for surface, terminal and oceanic operations to substantially accelerate the pace of change.

The strategic objective is to produce constant step-based improvements, to be implemented as quickly as possible following the conclusion of the projects in order to contribute to the achievement of environmental savings. In 2009, the SESAR JU co financed more than 1000 flight trials performed in real operational conditions with 18 partners. In 2010, 18 new projects were launched involving 40 airline, airport, ANSP and industry partners expanding significantly the initiative. More than 5000 trials are foreseen.

Seven of the 18 ongoing projects include green gate-to-gate projects, among others between France and the French West Indies. One highlight of the programme will be a series of green transatlantic flights with the Airbus A380, the world’s largest commercial aircraft.

Read more on AIRE in 2010/11.

AIRE Partners

Ae'roports de Paris Air France DSNA Iberia Isavia TAP Portugal Tern

Collaboration on the ground and in the air

In AIRE trials for surface, terminal and oceanic procedures have been and are presently being conducted. Some projects perform several optimizations in a “gate to gate” perspective.

Air domains

Technical and Procedural solutions performed in AIRE:

Development and implementation of continuous descent operations (CDOs previously known as CDAs);
Implementation of DMAN (Departure management) tools;
Implementation of CDM;
Improvement of queue management tools;
Encourage the development and implementation of taxi out and/or in with one or two engines off in major European airports and airport manoeuvring areas to reduce emissions and noise;
Implementation of short and noise reducing RNP AR approaches.

Ground movements

Green ground movement trials with Air France at Paris CDG (in cooperation with the DSNA and Ae'roports de Paris) were conducted in 2009 to demonstrate the effectiveness of a new collaborative decision making (CDM) system which minimised taxi times and allowed single engine taxi operation, thanks to enhanced time predictability.

Currently two AIRE projects cover surface procedures, one in Paris and other in Vienna. The Paris project consists in introducing a pre-departure sequence system in Charles de Gaulle airport during snow, low visibility conditions and runway closure. The project in Vienna consists in issuing a Target Off Block Time (TOBT), calculating of a variable taxi out time and Target Start-Up Approval Time (TSAT), the first steps towards CDM implementation.

Terminal

"Green" approach (Continuous Descent Approaches) and green climb trials at Madrid, Paris CDG and Stockholm airports involving DSNA, Thales, AVTECH, LFV, Novair, Egis Avia, AENA, INECO, Iberia and Air France were conducted in 2009. The first ‘Required Navigation Performance’ CDA approach ever to be performed in Europe was carried out at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport in cooperation with Airbus.

Five projects carried out in 2010 and 2011 cover the optimization of operations on the Terminal Area, all focusing on optimising the approaches through Continuous Descent Operations. Project DoWo, carried out by a French consortium developed a concept of Green STAR (Standard Terminal Arrival Route) combined with a Green Initial Approach evaluating the possibility of improving the vertical profiles in a high traffic density area; The project in Madrid, RETA-CDA2, analyses the aircraft deviation in time between the planned and the real crossing times of specific waypoints during the descent (4D trajectories). A project in Prague, REACT-CR, proposed to test a new procedure to allow CDAs to be flown into Prague Airport. The procedure was designed based on more efficient STAR routes. A German project, for Cologne-Bonn and Dusseldorf airports designed a new procedure to couple the arrival traffic flows of Dusseldorf and Cologne and therefore enabling a greener approach into Cologne. The fifth project was carried out in Brussels - B3 project- focusing on optimising the vertical profiles.

Oceanic

In the present system, ever increasing traffic between Europe and North America are leading to inefficient fuel consumption, fewer accepted pilot requests and airline schedule disruptions. Trials for "green" Oceanic procedures and techniques (speed, horizontal and lateral flight profile optimisation) with Nav Portugal, Isavia involving TAP Portugal, Air France, ADACEL and Icelandair on selected routes between Europe and North/Latin America were carried out in 2009.

Four new projects comprising six major North Atlantic FIRs: St Maria/Lisbon, NY Oceanic, Casablanca, Shanwick, and Gander with the support and participation of the FAA and NAV Canada were part of the Second AIRE cycle. The DORIS project targeting horizontal and lateral oceanic trajectory optimization uses the flexibility in the North Atlantic random route airspace, the full exploitation of data link communications between the AOC and the aircraft (ACARS) and between the aircraft and the ACCs (FANS CPDLC); the ONATAP project aims at the optimisation of flights in Lisbon and Casablanca FIRs. The Rlong project analyses the impact of a new longitudinal separation standard which could be introduced on the North Atlantic and the ENGAGE project intends to optimise the flight profiles (in altitude and speed) using ADS-B surveillance, to allow more flexible, responsive and optimized flight profiles.

Gate to Gate

Seven projects cover the optimisation of procedures in more than one domain. The Trans-Atlantic Green Flight covers TMA, with a estimated 20 NM track mile savings through RNAV APP combined with CDO, Oceanic vertical, and dynamic lateral wind optimized routes. The Green Shuttle optimises the flights between Paris-Orly and Toulouse using optimal trajectory (FL, lateral) enabled by improved ATM procedures; CDO from top of descent with a part including en-route, terminal optimisation, and military airspace coordination. The project Green Wave project in Zurich covers en-route and terminal operations steering the airport’s first arrival wave. The Gate-to-Gate A380 project includes surface and oceanic procedures: reduced engine taxi-out and dynamic rerouting to minimum time tracks at or above FL400 free from the Organized Track System facilitated by the A380 advanced CNS capabilities and reduced taxi-out in JFK resulting from improved coordination with the airport. The Dutch project Trajectory based night time CDA's at Schiphol consists of the improvement of the airport’s AMAN pre-planning tool including 4D (downlink of ETA for Dutch FIR entry point) enabling more undisturbed CDA from TOD. The VINGA project covers the optimisation of all phases of flight with a direct routing, a CDO from TOD allowed through a RNP AR 0.3 and RNP to ILS transition, idle reverse thrust on approach and single engine taxi in. The Green Connections proposes a new shorter RNP AR approach to ARN with an analysis of downlinked 4D trajectory data addressing noise versus emissions.