The Green Journey

We attended the IATA’s Fuel Efficiency workshop last week. This is part of IATA’s Green Team initiatives, where they look into ways of reducing the use of fuel in airline operations and practises.

Some of the measures and practises that lay people may find interesting to learn include:

• As a safety precaution, understandably pilots carry some extra fuel as buffer against unexpected weather, etc, that may require more than usual fuel for a flight;
• Some pilots prefer to “top up” the amount of fuel as a further safety buffer, even though calculations already made prior on the ground indicates the plane really only need less than that;
• Some regional airlines publish anonymously the amount of fuel each pilots use over a month, not to encourage competition (of who is most efficient) but to at least know where you rank among your fellow pilots (they can log in to find out their position among other pilots still anonymously);
• It is never a good idea to use pilot fuel efficiency as a Key Performance Indicator, for salary or performance bonuses. This is simply because it will start compromising safety standards;
• Airplanes are equipped with an Auxiliary Power Unit usually located in the tail of the plane, which acts as a power generator for the plane’s air conditioning, lighting, etc. One of the discussions revolved around whether the plane’s main engines (on the wings) ought to be cut off after landing and while taxiing to the airport, relying solely on the APU’s power;
• Other discussions also revolved around whether the APU should be used as a generator when the plane is parked at the airport gate, or should it rely on ground vehicles’ power generator;
• Finally, when the air conditioner should be justifiably switched on, ie 30 minutes before passengers board for their comfort, on hot days on the tarmac.

These are but some of the few things, among hundreds, that airlines and industry bodies such as IATA look into to save fuel use, which ultimately save costs and burn less fossil fuel over time, across an airline’s (whole) fleet.