Flying in formation could save fuel, according to Airbus

Flying the planes one behind the other would achieve 5% fuel savings on long-haul journeys, by benefiting from the wake effect, Airbus said Tuesday after a transatlantic experiment.

After more than a year of having announced an agreement with companies and air traffic organizations to demonstrate the operational possibility of flights inspired by the formations of wild geese, the European aviation consortium experimented by connecting Toulouse (France) with Montreal (Canada), with two test A350s flying 3 km away from each other.

“This was possible to achieve thanks to flight control systems developed by Airbus that position the aircraft flying behind safely in the rising wake of the aircraft ahead, thus reducing engine thrust and therefore reducing fuel consumption, “the group said in a statement.

This “final demonstration” flight, according to Airbus, made it possible to avoid “more than 6 tons of CO2 emissions, (…)”, confirming a potential fuel saving of more than 5% on long-haul flights ”.

In September 2020, the European group signed an agreement with Frenchbee and SAS airlines, as well as with air traffic organizations (DSNA in France, Nats in the UK and Eurocontrol) to analyze how to organize flights to create these formations. of airplanes.

Airbus, which hopes to be able to fine-tune this system by the middle of the current decade, points out that now what is necessary is “to obtain the support of the authorities to be able to certify this new operating concept.”

Although airlines around the world agreed last month to try to achieve ‘zero carbon’ by 2050, “this type of operation would significantly improve the environmental performance of commercial aircraft and contribute to the immediate goal of decarbonization in the aircraft industry. sector ”, highlighted Airbus.

Begun in 2019 and dubbed “fello’fly”, this project is part of a broader Airbus program, which aims to accelerate the development of future technologies in aviation. (I)