Aviation Civile

12 SuSTAINAbLE DEVELoPMENT
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synergy The European AIRE agreement promotes an environmental
approach in the air transport sector. The exemplarity of the actions
undertaken and the success of their evaluations are built on a total
mobilisation of human resources and services.
environment:
an exemplary approach
setting up a programme of evaluation
flights to accelerate the
development, approval and use
of procedures consistent with
sustainable development? This
is the objective of the agreement, signed
in June 2007, between the European
Commission and the American Federal
Aviation Authority (FAA), in order
to launch the Atlantic Interoperability
Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE).
The SESAR joint undertaking (Single
European Sky ATM Research) (read also
p. 10) is the technological part of the
future single European sky. It is also
managing the AIRE initiative.
In France DSNA 1 , ADP (airports of
Paris) and Air France are working
together to conduct the necessary
assessments in French airspace. This
is enable by the contracts that have
been co-financed by the SESAR joint
undertaking and these three partners
(Air France is working with the others
for the oceanic flights). These are fullsize
evaluations, conducted in realtime,
with real traffic, and not mere
simulations.
Hence close cooperation is absolutely
necessary between the partners and
all of the services concerned: “At DSNA
the evaluations made in 2009 on transoceanic
flights 2 out of Roissy/Charles de
Gaulle to Miami involved the tower and
the approach to the airports of departure
and arrival in France (Paris-CDG), and
also the North, West and South-West
CRNA 3 , explains Alain Bourgin, assistant
to the head of Environment mission
head at DSNA. Similarly for the evaluation
flights between Orly and the West Indies,
in 2010 and 2011, under the responsibility
of Air France.”
Aiming for the optimum
In the latter case, by reducing the
vertical separation standards for aircraft
over the Atlantic, using on-board
© Photothèque STAC/T. Jullien
technologies, we can fly closer to the
optimum altitudes, and so less fuel is
consumed. “Effectively a flight that is
fixed at 3,000 feet below its optimum
means a 4% overconsumption of fuel,
emphasises Laurent Renou, ATM (Air
Traffic Management) Manager at Air
France. In this example, being able to
fly at this level saves 1.6 tonnes of fuel
from the 40 tonnes for a crossing, and so
5 tonnes of CO 2 .”
For AIRE II, the second edition, eighteen
projects have been selected by
SESAR. Four involve French organisations.
There are three RANCs (regional
air navigation centres) and three Air
Navigation Services (ANS) involved.
Other than the liaisons between
Orly and the West Indies, there is a programme
for the daily “shuttle” flights
between Orly and Toulouse. There is
another for the continuous decent
approach to CDG (up to 200/300 kg less
fuel per flight for long haul aircraft).
At CDG, optimisation of the vertical
profiles of arrivals, and operations in
degraded conditions, are also being
studied.
This time we try to make best use of
the concept of A-CMD (Airport-Collaborative
Decision Making), set up at CDG
airport 4 in 2010. The concept optimises
the use of capacity and resources and
reduces taxiing time by better coordination
between the players of the platform.
So once again, fuel consumption
and pollution can be reduced. This was
evaluated in 2009-2010. “This was a challenge
for a large airport like CDG, notes
Olivier Delain, head of the air navigation
mission at ADP. It would not have been
possible without the total commitment
of the staff, particularly the air traffic
controllers.”
This finding can be applied all the
players: “With AIRE, a citizen aware of
environmental issues can be in complete
agreement with how the technician
is doing his daily work,” reflects
Laurent Renou.
germain Chambost
1/ Department of air navigation services.
2/ Read Aviation Civile No.353.
3/ Air navigation regional centre.
4/ Read Aviation Civile No.356.
3 4
1_Guidance on a parking area.
2_Refuelling an aircraft.
3_Control tower of Roissy/Charles de Gaulle airport.
4 _Air France aircraft at Toulouse airport .
Aviation Civile magazine No.358_ June 2011 Aviation Civile magazine No.358_ June 2011
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© ADP/P. Sroppa/Studio Pons © ADP/P. Sroppa/Studio Pons
© P. Garcia/Aéroport Toulouse-Blagnac
Constraints
and comfort
the AIrE programme procedures
get the best from aircrafts’
on-board resources, ground
equipment, and the men and
women that use them.
“AIRE is not really a revolution, points out Laurent
Renou, Air Traffic Manager (ATM) at Air France.
It consists in the first place in using the existing
technology better: the equipment on the aircraft, air
traffic control systems and the ground infrastructures.
In a way, it is all about looking for the economic
optimum with the resources at our disposal
and minimising fuel consumption which ipso facto
means an ecological optimisation. And finally, this
approach will make the work of the teams easier.”
The air traffic controllers are being directly asked
to authorise monitored continuous descent
approaches to the airport (CDG, Toulouse, Orly),
but without giving any sort of priority to those
approaches nor disturbing the other arrivals.
“We have to make gains without causing problems
elsewhere,” summarises Laurent Renou.
As a result, pilots and passengers both win.
The passengers can enjoy an uninterrupted
descent, and the pilots are spared from
the constraints of an arrival in successive flight
levels. They are thus becoming more aware
of these daily constraints and see that they can be
eliminated, if the circumstances allow.
Result: there is a better mutual understanding
between air transport players, and of their
respective roles and functions.
AIRE GATHERS MoMENTuM
Signed on 18th of June 2007, the AIRe agreement
was initiated in 2009. During that year seventeen
partners—airlines, air navigation service providers,
industrial firms, airport operators, etc.—were involved
in the evaluation flights (1,152 in total).
For 2010-2011, AIRE II has forty-two partners,
with eighteen distinct projects. In total eleven countries
are involved: Austria, belgium, Canada, the Czech
Republic, Germany, Morocco and Switzerland
have now joined the four of AIRE I (France, Portugal,
Spain and the united States).