SESAR JU founding members, Thales and DSNA, have deployed a new solution developed within the ongoing SESAR JU CONCERTO research project, supporting more sustainable air traffic management.

Using advanced decision-making algorithms, the decision-support tool helps air navigation service providers identify opportunities to relax certain airspace constraints—such as altitude or routing restrictions—allowing airlines to optimise flight paths, reduce fuel consumption, and lower CO₂ emissions without compromising safety or capacity.

Following its initial implementation in Brest, the solution is now operational at the Reims Area Control Centre, enabling a reduction of up to 300 kg of fuel consumption per optimised flight and supporting greener air traffic management.

This deployment is part of the EU-funded SESAR JU CONCERTO project, which focuses on integrating new technologies and concepts to reduce CO2 emissions and introduce non-CO2 impact management into daily operations. As part of this project, all CONCERTO partners are working to integrate more sustainable air traffic control capabilities into the system, balancing capacity and environmental performance.

This relatively quick development and rollout—starting only in 2023— showcases how SESAR JU brings together industry and research partners to accelerate innovation and enable quicker market uptake of eco-efficient technologies. The deployment highlights SESAR JU’s commitment to transforming research into real-world benefits for European skies. It also underscores the SESAR JU’s commitment to making European skies smarter and more sustainable in line with EU climate ambitions.

“Congratulations to Thales and DSNA for the successful deployment of the Green Flag Orchestrator in Reims and Brest. This achievement, delivered through the SESAR CONCERTO project, is a great example of the SESAR innovation pipeline in action—transforming promising ideas into tools that deliver immediate environmental benefits. By accelerating the uptake of eco-efficient solutions like this, we are helping to make Europe’s skies more sustainable, flight by flight,” said Andreas Boschen, Executive Director, SESAR Joint Undertaking.

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