How the CARING project is building a new, eco-friendly model

With a budget of one million euros, CARING (Contribution of Airlines for the Reduction of Industry Nuisances and Gases) is the only Clean Sky project involving airlines. Launched at the beginning of 2010, the project aims to understand how current and future environmental regulations affect the economics of airlines and to examine how airlines can best adapt to these changes. The project also seeks to understand the environmental impact of flight trajectories with the aim of reducing aircraft emissions and noise through innovations in flight management.

Led by OpenAirlines, a consulting and software company,CARING has analyzed thousands of commercial flights operated by six airlines, including Airlinair, TUI and Transavia, and spanning 11 types of aircraft. The CARING consortium used this unique flight data to explain how external factors such as trajectories and aircraft settings, including engine thrust and wing configuration, affect aircraft fuel consumption, emissions and noise. Partner airlines in the CARING project are already implementing changes to their operations that will produce a direct reduction in emissions of between two and three percent, with the equivalent fuel savings.

In the future, CARING's research will be used in the development of flight management computers to choose optimal flight trajectories for reducing emissions. The first new flight management system delivering green trajectories based on CARING's analysis will be demonstrated in 2014. The new economic model and application of operational best practices, meanwhile, is expected at the end of 2012.