Smarter transatlantic flight paths can cut emissions by one-sixth

Transatlantic jets that "surf the jetstream – taking full advantage of winter winds – can cut fuel burn and emissions by up to one-sixth, say researchers at the University of Reading. Airlines would cut costs by reducing wear on engines as well as saving fuel, while passengers could benefit from faster journeys – typically touching down 21 minutes earlier on a flight from New York to London. A team led by Professor Paul Williams calculated the savings by analysing all 35,000 flights between London Heathrow and New York JFK in December, January and February last winter. The results appear in Environmental Research Letters in a paper titled “Reducing transatlantic flight emissions by fuel-optimised routing”. The shortest ground distance between the two airports, known as the Great Circle route, is 3,451 miles. But the most efficient way to fly between the two cities is the routing that exploits the “wind field” – the moving map of wind speed and direction. It minimises the “air distance,” which is the key variable for fuel burn and CO2 emissions. Professor Williams said: "What really excites me about our new study is that flights could get shorter and faster without actually increasing their airspeed. This is purely an effect of aircraft making better use of the jet stream winds to boost their ground speed. It is literally a free ride from the atmosphere.” Story has more.<br/>