A trial of environmentally optimised transatlantic flights was conducted during the summer 2013, as part of the TOPFLIGHT project being led by UK-based air traffic service provider, NATS.  The trials were the first of two large scale flight trial campaigns to be conducted by TOPFLIGHT, which is part of the SESAR Demonstration Programme that began in June 2012.

Every element of each TOPFLIGHT Phase 1 trial flight, from push-back time, to climb and descent profile and routing, was designed to test the SESAR concept, minimise fuel burn and maximise efficiency.  Analysis before the trials began suggested that each flight could save up to half a tonne of fuel - the equivalent to 1.6 tonnes of CO2.

The trial included 100 British Airways flights over the course of this summer, the first of which took place at the end of May between London Heathrow and Montreal following 6 weeks of cockpit simulation work.

Some elements of the SESAR concept are already business as usual for NATS and NAVCANADA controllers, such as the use of Continuous Climb Operations on departure, but other elements have required new procedures, such as giving aircraft an initial oceanic profile before departing Heathrow.

Analysis of the trial results is underway, however initial findings indicate that some trial flights may have saved in excess of 1 tonne of fuel, with approximately 65% of this saving coming from Free Routing and Flexible Use of Airspace in UK and Canadian radar airspace, approximately 30% from Cruise Climb and Variable Mach in oceanic airspace, and approximately 5% from Continuous Climb Operations and Continuous Descent Arrivals.

TOPFLIGHT is providing an opportunity for NATS and the project partners to provide feedback on the feasibility, benefits and scalability of the SESAR concept more widely, as well as saving potentially large amounts of fuel and CO₂.

NATS Project Manager Joe Baker said: “One-off trials, such as the NATS Perfect Flight project in 2010 and AIRE projects, have already proven the level of benefit that can be achieved in isolation, but these wider trials are an exciting opportunity to look at how we might implement these ideas for multiple flights, using elements of the SESAR concept, in a real life operational environment.” 

“TOPFLIGHT aims to develop, demonstrate and transition to operation, an optimised flight concept based on the SESAR concept that further minimises the environmental impact of aviation.”

A second phase of trials, planned for the winter 2013, will focus on reducing holding for London Heathrow via the use of a cross-border Arrival Manager at a single airport, or cross-border arrival management (XMAN) at multiple airports. Planning and implementation in support of these XMAN trials is well underway and the trials are highly integrated within the XMAN initiative of the Functional Airspace Block, FAB Europe Central (FABEC).

In addition to NATS and British Airways, the TOPFLIGHT consortium consists of Canadian air traffic service provider, NAVCANADA, Airbus ProSky, Boeing and Barco Orthogon.