Airline uses AI to cut carbon emissions during flight take-off
Berlin (dpa) - German carrier group TUI Airline is using artificial intelligence to try to reduce fuel burn during take-off and ascent, SITA, the international air communications body, has announced.
SITA, or the Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques, said TUI's use of AI would save the airline up to 200 kg of fuel and 600 kg of CO2 per aircraft each day.
Lift-off and climb are together the most fuel-intensive part of a flight and industry data says up to 30% of fuel being burned during the period, SITA said in a September statement.
SEE ALSO: What is turbulence and is it predictable?
"TUI has committed to 2030 emission reduction targets for its own airlines, cruises and hotels - emissions from TUI Airline are to be reduced by 24%," said Marco Ciomperlik, chief airline officer at TUI Group, the travel and hotel giant to which the airline belongs.
An "innovative predictive analytics solution that uses machine learning to build tail-specific performance models" can predict fuel burn after being "fed with 4D weather forecasts and operational flight plan inputs," SITA says.
"The solution then provides pilots with customized climb speeds and acceleration levels specific to each tail and flight to optimize fuel without compromising flight times," SITA explained.
RELATED: Six annoying ways weather forces airlines to cancel your flight
(Source: Christoph Schmidt/dpa via Reuters Connect)
TUI claims its carriers together make up Europe’s 7th-biggest airline. SITA believes AI could reduce emissions by 5.6 million tonnes if used across the industry. Aviation emissions hit 800 million tonnes in 2022, around 80% of the pre-pandemic peak.
The announcement followed Google earlier in 2023 teaming up with American Airlines to use AI to help pilots choose routes that would reduce the spread of contrails, the wispy, white lines sometimes seen behind aircraft, which are said to generate clouds that in turn account for 35% of aviation's "global warming impact."
Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH via Reuters Connect
