It’s not just a lot of tree-hugging rhetoric. At United Nations-sponsored climate talks in Copenhagen this week, the aviation industry’s effort to reduce its carbon footprint is genuine and tangible.

Notably, the European Business Aviation Association is proposing the formation of a pool of business jet operators as an alternative means of compliance with the European Union’s emission trading scheme (ETS). Many business jet manufacturers and operators find ETS onerous and are seeking a compromise that places less of an administrative burden on smaller companies.

While negotiators from around the world confer in Copenhagen, new environmental regulations already are emerging from Washington and Europe, a trend accelerated by the recent change of occupants in the White House. Spurred by the Obama administration and public pressure around the world, the aviation industry is increasingly playing a role in the fight against global warming.

Air transport could very well become the next environmental villain – and that has a lot of aviation decision-makers worried. The growing concern over climate change and air pollutants threatens to put a damper on aviation, just as the industry is showing tentative signs of emerging from its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Politicians in legislatures around the world are clamoring for aviation to slash its greenhouse gas emissions as well as its noise levels.

New technologies are either under development or already implemented. Stepping up to the plate to meet the green challenge are the major OEMs, including Boeing and Airbus, as well as the major engine makers, including Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, GE, and Turbomeca.

Typically, when discussing green aviation, the spotlight falls on engine technology and the use of composites in airframe manufacturing. However, pollution control opportunities also emerge from the optimization of airspace. For airlines, that means more efficient route networks, timetables, flight frequencies, and airport approaches – all areas in which avionics can make a big difference.

“Avionics technology is a huge part of [an environmental] solution because even the most fuel efficient airplanes, if they’re put into long, say 20 minute, holding patterns at 6,000 or 8,000 feet on vectors, the amount of fuel burn is just extraordinarily wasteful,” said Chris Baur, president, consulting and technical services, Hughes Aerospace. “There's a big cost associated with this airspace inefficiency, which provides a huge incentive for airlines to go with newer avionics technology to not only improve their bottom lines, but to make flying passengers feel better about their ticket purchases, because they’re buying into a greener technology.”

John Persinos is publisher and editorial director of Aviation Today.
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