Today, regulation and flight planning activities do not take environmental aspects, particularly emission issues, into account at Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU) level. At a European scale, the CFMU is the organisation in charge of providing air traffic flow and capacity management (ATFCM) services to airspace users.
Consequently, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) contracted Egis to study the integration of a feature assessing gas emissions for the optimisation of the ATCFM network operations.
The objectives of the study, carried out in cooperation with ENVISA, are to:
- Investigate the possible synergies with emission model modules and tools already developed by Eurocontrol and their potential inclusion in air traffic flow organisation
- Develop an operational concept of the integration of the emission dimension in ATCFM network operations
- Draw up a business case and cost/benefit analysis of the project
This initiative should raise the CFMU’s role in allowing all actors to understand the impact of their decisions on the environment and more particularly on emissions.
This contract was awarded to Egis in a global context of raising environmental awareness when the aviation sector is often blamed for being a major source of atmosphere pollution.
Over the last years, air transport stakeholders have initiated multiple projects to promote a sustainable aviation, with reduced environmental footprint without compromising on performance and safety. The development of a modernised air traffic management system in Europe as promoted by the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) programme aims at preventing the congestion of the European sky while making air traffic more eco-friendly.
One of its particular focus areas is the reduction of fuel burn and atmospheric impacts (CO2, NOx and H2O) generated in all flight phases.