June 8th, 2009

From Green Right Now Reports

American Airlines Flight 63 will depart from Paris this Thursday morning, headed for Miami but — the airline hopes — it may land in history.

This flight aims to prove that trans-Atlantic flights, a source of significant global CO2 emissions, can be operated a bit greener and leaner.

Through the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE), American will be the first U.S. airline to test next-generation technology and procedures that will reduce carbon emissions and save fuel on trans-Atlantic routes. The testing will be conducted during a normally scheduled flight so American can obtain real-time benefits.

AIRE, a joint initiative of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the European Commission, and several airlines, is designed to speed up application of new technologies and operational procedures, which have a direct impact on reducing carbon emissions and noise pollution as well as conserving fuel. Part of the AIRE project includes gate-to-gate flight demonstrations to test the benefits of technologies that will be used with the FAA’s NextGen air traffic management system.

“It is critical that the aviation industry work with our Air Traffic Control partners to demonstrate the benefits of NextGen technology today,” Bob Reding, American’s Executive Vice President of Operations, said in a statement. “By implementing this technology as quickly as possible, we can make real and meaningful strides to reduce our impact on the environment, increase system capacity, and reduce air traffic delays.

“Utilizing NextGen technology is a crucial part of American’s overall environmental and fuel savings efforts. These efforts have already yielded fuel savings of more than 110 million gallons annually and reduced our carbon emissions by 2.3 billion pounds in 2008.”

Using a Boeing 767-300 aircraft, American Flight 63 will fly from Paris Charles De Gaulle and arrive at Miami International Airport at 1:55 p.m. EDT. The flight will conduct several fuel conservation measures, including single-engine taxi on departure and arrival, continuous climb out and descent, optimized routing over water, and a “tailored arrival.” Several of these endeavors are already key elements of Fuel Smart, American’s ongoing employee fuel conservation program. In 2009, American has a goal to save 120 million gallons of jet fuel and reduce its carbon emissions by 2.5 billion pounds.

Post-flight data analysis by the FAA, European Commission, and American will determine the carbon and fuel savings gained on the demonstration flight. The FAA and AA will then conduct a two-month trial in Miami to continue testing the next-generation technology and procedures.