Latest news on EUROCONTROL’s work on sustainability

EUROCONTROL, in collaboration with Airbus and Thales, seeks to set up ContrailNet - a new network of European research experts to create a common repository of contrail observation data to advance the aviation sector’s efforts to reduce the climate impact of non-CO₂ aviation emissions. The aim is to make available the common repository of annotated observation data to existing and future research initiatives for them to develop their own contrail identification and evaluation algorithms. Besides EUROCONTROL's contrail prevention trials and our contrail observatory, this technical project is another component in EUROCONTROL's strategic work on non-CO₂ climate impacts. The new initiative was announced during the EUROCONTROL-CANSO Sustainable Skies Conference in Brussels. For more information or to register your interest in joining ContrailNet, please contact: [email protected]

At the EUROCONTROL-CANSO Sustainable Skies Conference experts from EUROCONTROL’s Maastricht Upper Airspace Control Centre (MUAC) shared lessons learned from the world’s first live contrail prevention trial and real-time simulations. MUAC's live contrail prevention trial and real-time simulations show that contrail formation and their harmful impact towards climate change can be avoided with relatively small vertical deviations from the flight plan. As long as air traffic is low also the impact of contrail prevention operations on capacity is low. However, in moderate traffic conditions, capacity reductions in the range of 20% can already be expected for safety reasons. The 2023 real-time simulations in MUAC airspace have provided valuable results and will lay the foundation for the smooth and safe introduction of contrail prevention in ATC operations. 

EUROCONTROL has joined forces with 240 representatives from across the aviation sector to set up its flagship project for aviation sustainability: FlyingGreen. FlyingGreen is a strategic priority in EUROCONTROL’s corporate “Raising the Bar” programme, and is designed to support ECAC Member States and operational stakeholders in their decarbonisation efforts and climate change adaptations. The users of EUROCONTROL’s ‘green’ services –a integrated platform offering a NetZero toolkit, green fuel calculators and much more – come from across EUROCONTROL’s Member States and the aviation sector and will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of these services.