EASA published new fuel rules with positive environmental impact.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has published a Decision that proposes that air operators be allowed to reduce the amount of fuel carried during operations, thereby reducing the CO2 emissions of the overall flight and the environmental impact of the flight.
Aircraft are required to carry enough fuel to ensure the safety of operations in case their flight plan needs to change for reasons that could include the delays on approach to the destination airport or even the impossibility to land due to weather considerations or other issues. Carriage of this extra fuel, as it adds weight to the aircraft, increases the fuel consumption and total emissions from the flight.
The amount of additional fuel required can be optimized, while continuing to ensure high safety levels, due to improved risk assessment, calculations based on better data, and better decision making. The principles will also apply to aircraft powered fully or partially by alternative energy sources, such as electric aircraft.
Jesper Rasmussen, EASA Flight Standards Director said, “This regulatory package is part of the overall efforts of EASA to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment. There is no reason to lift up more fuel reserve into the sky than necessary – lifting fuel burns more fuel. Most importantly, this can be done without compromising safety – the reduction is possible thanks to better assessment methods and better data which allow airlines to carry out a more precise risk assessment.”
The EASA Decision will enter into force on October 30, 2022.
The new rules bring in three different fuel schemes:
- basic fuel scheme
- fuel scheme with variations
- individual fuel scheme
The transition from the current rules to the basic fuel scheme requires little additional effort from the perspective of an air operator. The other two schemes are voluntary and will take more resources to implement as those require enhanced monitoring capabilities from the airlines. National authorities will also have to adjust their oversight to ensure that safety levels are not compromised.
The precise reductions that would be permissible for individual operations vary according to routing and aircraft used.
To be approved for the new schemes, the operator needs to fulfil certain criteria and demonstrate the implementation of procedures ranging from performance monitoring & measurement, safety risk management, qualification of personnel, reliable and accurate fuel data and plans for the resolution of any significant findings.
A baseline safety performance level needs to be established which is based on operator historical data and a set of safety performance indicators is required before (and after) implementation of individual fuel schemes.
In detail, all commercial flights need to file a flight plan and one of the reasons for such a flight plan is to determine the fuel quantity required to execute the flight. Along with the fuel required to fly the specified route, various fuel quantities need to be specified and added to ensure the flight has enough fuel (in reserve) in case of unforeseen circumstances.
One such fuel quantity is the contingency fuel (often also called the en-route reserve fuel).
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) defines the contingency fuel as “…the fuel required to compensate for unforeseen factors that could have an influence on the fuel consumption to the destination aerodrome”.
Historically, this contingency fuel has been defined as an amount of fuel based on a percentage of the trip fuel (the fuel required to execute the flight) or as a quantity based on a percentage of the trip time. Such definitions (based on a percentage of trip fuel or trip time) are applicable to all flights regardless of the aircraft type, the route flown, weather, airspace, etc. and thus neglect the individual nature of each flight and the factors that can influence the flight.
Most flights may not experience the unforeseen factors for which the contingency fuel is added, and a very large percentage of flights will land with this quantity of fuel still remaining in the tanks however a quantity of fuel would have been burnt in carrying this fuel.
In addition, technological improvements, such as more precise information related to actual aircraft fuel consumption and improved knowledge of weather, airspace, and traffic means that the unforeseen circumstances (that are compensated for by the contingency fuel) are better understood and effectively diminished.
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The proposed new rules allow lower fuel loads, less burn, and reduced emissions. Once implemented these rules permit operators to demonstrate repeatable improvements in-flight efficiency without compromising safety.
