“This study is a great example of what happens when creative, ambitious organisations work together to better understand and solve a tough problem and we’re grateful for American Airlines and Google’s partnership.”
Implementing AI for contrail reduction
American Airlines pilots did 70 test flights at a slightly lower altitude than normal over two months using predictions from the tool.
The results show this AI technology reduced contrail generation 54% and used 2% more fuel.
Eurocontrol’s Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) manages the upper airspace, from 24,500 to 66,000 feet, over the Netherlands, Belgium, north-west Germany and Luxembourg.
Each day MUAC controls an average of more than 4,000 flights across its 260,000 km² of airspace.
It was the first to conduct an operational contrail prevention trial in 2021 and has been working with Google since 2022 by sharing information.
Ilona Sitova, Senior Aviation Sustainability Expert at Eurocontrol MUAC, told Google: “Contrail prevention is so important as it is one of the few tools that the aviation industry has to mitigate its impact on the climate in the short to medium term.”