EUROCONTROL Think Paper #10: Flying the ‘perfect green flight’ published.

The latest EUROCONTROL Think Paper, which looks at what all aviation actors can do to make every air journey as close to a ‘perfect green flight’ as possible.

We explain why is it not always possible to fly a ‘perfect green flight’ today, show which measures have the greatest potential to improve the sustainability of aviation now and in the future, and set out what needs to be done to make every single flight greener, by taking a close look at every aspect of a flight – before, during and immediately after.

The paper shows that purely using existing technology, every flight operating in Europe could become on average over 25% greener by 2030, with CO₂ emissions reduced by up to 25.8% through a combination of measures including increased use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), better use of fuel-efficient airspace and technological solutions by all European ATM network stakeholders, and fleet modernisation by airlines.

This is strong progress towards Net Zero by 2050. We predict that emerging aircraft technologies in the form of hybrid, electric and hydrogen airplanes will transform aviation over the period 2030-2050, enabling aviation to meet its climate-neutrality goal by 2050. By 2050, these new airplanes will be increasingly prevalent on short to medium haul sectors. In parallel, 83% of fuel used will be SAF, with SAF use predominating in the long-haul sector irrespective of further technological developments.

Download the Think Paper here: Think Paper #10 - 20 April 2021