Balancing Operational demands and the climate crisis

Safe, Orderly and Expeditious. Those words have been drummed into me since the very first day of my career. In fact, there used to be a plaque above the door in the college with those exact words. At times these three pressures can feel contradictory. Obviously, safety always comes first, but what impacts the jostling for second place is complex. Aging infrastructures, seemingly ever-increasing demand and the sheer complexity of change in a highly regulated environment add to this challenge.

And now we must include sustainability in that balance.

It’s a challenge being faced right across every aspect of the industry. A recent meeting with one of the world’s biggest aircraft engine manufacturers highlighted to me just how unaligned our industry can be. They described how the most efficient way to operate their engines was to be gentle; with minimal or no reverse thrust, no intersection departures, no max power settings. However, it’s a methodology that contradicts the way an efficient runway is managed; max thrust and power to reduce runway occupancy, all of which stresses the engine more, reduces time between maintenance and uses more fuel. Here, airport efficiency is taking precedence over sustainability.

So how can we try and solve this seemingly impossible equation?

Data is a powerful tool in helping to determine how to best balance the schedule with demand - being able to release more landing slots can be a game changer for airports and airlines. Through novel technology and analysis of data, NATS has been very successful in helping airports around the world to increase capacity when it was thought otherwise impossible. In doing so, we ensure that safety is the top priority, but there is now an increasing urgency to balance that with the environmental impact.

Through novel technology and analysis of data, NATS has been very successful in helping airports around the world to increase capacity when it was thought otherwise impossible. In doing so, we ensure that safety is the top priority, but there is now an increasing urgency to balance that with the environmental impact.

Just last month, it was announced that Heathrow will start using a ‘Green Toolkit’ to augment their Demand Capacity Balancer tool, developed in partnership with NATS. For the first time, this will allow them to include Sustainability as a metric when optimising their flight schedules and operation. Of course, for airports, a lot rides on getting this balance right. On time performance, passenger and airline satisfaction and ultimately, an airport’s reputation hinge on achieving that successfully every day, but just being able to take account of the environmental impact is a step forward. It all goes back to measuring – you can’t improve what you cannot measure.

Our capacity to use data to inform our choices reaches well beyond the airport environment. Now, we can measure what’s happening along all routes serving an airport, what’s happening on the ground before flights have taken off and even the difference between the performance of flights coming from the same airport, but at different times of the day. We need to be able to understand this as well as things like changes to routing due to airspace closures over Ukraine, restrictions for Western operators over Russia, or funnelling traffic around the Paris Olympics. Technology can help us use this data in a way that smooths the contradictions between efficiency and sustainability.

It’s been over fifteen years since aviation’s leading industry bodies - ACI, CANSO, IATA, ICCAIA - committed to addressing the global challenge of climate change. To support this, ICAO has launched a Carbon Accreditation Standard and initiatives such as Science Based Targets are in place to help industry – aviation and beyond – to decrease carbon emissions. Change is underway.

Technology can help us use data in a way that smooths the contradictions between efficiency and sustainability.

The commitment and intention is in place; you won’t find an airport or ANSP without a team who are now focussed on this particular aspect of operations. The work of NATS’ Solutions and Innovations team pushes beyond extending existing technology such as the Green Toolkit to the development of new solutions that help airports to optimise environmental performance on the ground and in the air.

Later this year, our newest solution will be available to airports. It harnesses data to inform how leveraging different airport initiatives can best balance operational and environmental performance. It is another example of how strategic decision making can be supported with high-quality data from an increasingly digitised airport ecosystem.

NATS newest technology solution, being launched later this year, harnesses data to inform how leveraging different airport initiatives can best balance operational and environmental performance.

We can drive an electric car, choose a renewable energy tariff and pay a premium in support of green initiatives when we book a flight, but the industry stands at a pivotal moment, facing the challenge of growing demand and increasing scrutiny over its environmental impact. Measurement, enabled by digitisation and technology, could be the answer to finding balance in this new, complex relationship: Safe, Orderly, Expeditious and Sustainable will replace the old plaque.