Fuel Economy crucial to air cargo’s sustainable future

The fuel economy of international flights is even lower, 0.27 mpg, due to heavier jets. Yet, these numbers represent significant improvements since 2000, when US domestic fuel economy was 40% lower and international fuel economy was 12% lower.

When considering that airplanes carry large numbers of passengers across large distances, the fuel economy per capita becomes more reasonable. Air travel currently accounts for about 2-3% of global CO2 emission, but emissions may to grow 500% by 2050 due to rapid increase in air travel. Fuel accounts for the airline industry’s major expense, constituting about 40% of operation costs.

Commercial air travel underpins the modern global economy, but at no small cost to the environment, with airplanes recognized as a major contributor to global climate change.
In 2012, commercial aircraft emitted about 700 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) worldwide. If commercial aviation was counted as a country, it would rank 7th after Germany in terms of CO2 emissions, experts said.
Aviation fuel use and CO2 emissions,
including those attributable to military and general aviation, quadrupled between 1960 and 2006, and are on pace to triple again by 2050, a time by which many developed countries hope to reduce their emissions by up to 80%, various studies showed.
The fuel economy of air travel may sound dreadful when compared to ground vehicle performances. Whereas hybrid cars can achieve 50 mpg and pick-up trucks average around 20 mpg, the fuel economy of US domestic airliners averages 0.54 aircraft miles/gallon.
The fuel economy of international flights is even lower, 0.27 mpg, due to heavier jets. Yet, these numbers represent significant improvements since 2000, when US domestic fuel economy was 40% lower and international fuel economy was 12% lower.
When considering that airplanes carry large numbers of passengers across large distances, the fuel economy per capita becomes more reasonable. Air travel currently accounts for about 2-3% of global CO2 emission, but emissions may to grow 500% by 2050 due to rapid increase in air travel. Fuel accounts for the airline industry’s major expense, constituting about 40% of operation costs.
The US airline industry spent $47.3 billion on jet fuel in 2012, prompting aircraft manufacturers to search for transformative innovations that will heavily improve their fuel economy.
Many of these innovations could dwarf the improvements made in Boeing 787 Dreamliner, currently the world’s most fuel-efficient airplane. The composite materials used for the airplane skin and the application of batteries to run airplane electronics drive the 787’s improved fuel economy.
Air Cargo Update interviewed Georgi Mitov, director product marketing, Honeywell’s Go Direct Flight Efficiency solutions and with Bettina Jansen, Lufthansa Cargo Head of Environmental Management to discuss why fuel economy is necessary for the stability of the air cargo industry.
Stability of the air cargo industry
With fuel an important contributor to overall airline operating costs, aircraft and engine manufacturers have an incentive to improve the fuel efficiency of their products, thus, reducing CO2 emissions.
“Fuel costs are one of the aviation industry’s largest expenses, making up approximately 20-40 percent of total costs for an airline. Ensuring aircraft are running as efficiently as possible with the fuel they use can help maintain stability in the cargo industry. This helps reduce the amount of capital spent on each flight, and these cost savings can subsequently be reinvested back into the business,” said Mitov.
Burning any amount of fuel has an impact on the environment, but by using fuel efficiency software, Honeywell can determine where an aircraft can make changes to their routes to be more fuel efficient, requiring less fuel to make the same trip. Deploying a strategic plan to decrease usage results in a lessened impact on the environment through decreased emissions and using less fuel to reach destinations.
By 2020, Lufthansa Cargo seeks to reduce specific carbon emissions by 25 percent based on the level for 2005. This goal is to be met by all kinds of operational and technical measures.
One of these measures is their OMEGA software (Ops Monitor and Efficiency Gap Analyzer). It collects real data directly from the aircraft and in large quantities. For each flight, it gathers 20,000 lines of data multiplied by 80 parameters.
Lufthansa Cargo’s Bettina Jansen says: “With OMEGA, we are seeking to identify patterns within the generated big data that can assist pilots in finding the most efficient route. By comparing projected, actual and optimal values, it provides key information for reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Pilots can use the analysis to optimally prepare for a flight and identify any possible deviations from the plan early on.”
Software specialist Aviaso together with Lufthansa developed the software. Special applications have been added for Lufthansa Cargo such as in the area of trim evaluation.
Last year, Lufthansa received the German Aviation Innovation Award in the Emissions Reduction category for the OMEGA tool. Lufthansa’s cargo arm was also named one of two runners-up in the ‘CO2 avoidance as a contribution to climate protection’ category with its “OMEGA – using big data to reduce CO2′ project.
Energy sustainability
About one quarter of oil imported costs the global economy roughly $116 billion in 2014, experts said.
Most of the world’s oil reserves are concentrated in the Middle East, and about 73% are controlled by Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members.
“By analyzing fuel consumption and determining better, more efficient ways to fly, operators are reducing fuel costs because they are using less fuel on traditional routes.Less fuel consumption means that the stocks of fuel that operators have can last longer, which helps sustain the component parts of fuel, particularly oil, which is a volatile commodity in today’s market.”
“By analyzing all the data that relates to a flight it is possible to extract patterns and trends that impact the efficiency of a flight. Operators can then focus on negating those impacts to drive efficiencies.”
With its wide-ranging catalogue of measures aimed at reducing its freighter fleet’s CO2 emissions, Lufthansa Cargo has made it possible for its customers to lower the annual CO2 emissions relating to their shipments – and namely by 1.35 percent per year on average since 2005.
To take an example, a five-ton shipment from Frankfurt to New York would have generated 17.03 tons of CO2 in the Lufthansa Cargo freighter network in 2005. By 2015, the level of emissions for the same weight on the same route had been reduced by 2.28 tons of CO2 to 14.74 tons.
In the first year of OMEGA, Lufthansa Cargo already implemented a handful of additional measures for further reducing CO2 emissions per transported tons, totaling over 10,000 tons of CO2 per year. Another dozen or more specific and very promising ideas are currently being investigated and evaluated.
Big Data & Analysis
Digital transformation is forcing businesses of all stripes to rethink what their customers value and how to meet those needs. The real time analysis of big data is a technological innovation, as it can provide new ways of thinking about issues and identifying opportunities.
“By analyzing all the data that relates to a flight it is possible to extract patterns and trends that impact the efficiency of a flight. Operators can then focus on negating those impacts to drive efficiencies.”
Honeywell’s GoDirect Fuel Efficiency software collects information from various sources on the ground and from the aircraft itself.
Typical sources for data are Flight Schedule System, Flight Planning System, data recorded during the flight (QAR data), weather data, weight and balance data, fuel uplifts data. The GoDirect Fuel Efficiency software can be configured to take advantage of multiple data sources within the airline, which provide efficiency, related data.
“The GoDirect Fuel Efficiency software has several features specifically designed to address needs of cargo airlines. For example, for cargo operations, having detailed information about load distribution by cargo compartments and load index positions, can be used to identify further efficiency opportunities related to lateral or longitudinal balance of the aircraft,” explained Mitov.
With Big data’s new tools, the cargo industry actually uses the huge mass of data more intelligently. They fetch the data, analyze and then offer something valuable back to the customer so they can make decisions in the field to improve efficiency and save money. Data is used to make real, tangible improvements to the services we offered to the clients.
“Nowadays, a single flight produces terabytes of data and millions of data points, which should be analyzed for the purposes of accurate efficiency analysis. Data analytics is an obvious strategy to use in this instance because of the quantity and quality of the data available,” Mitov noted.
Impact of oil prices
As with any industry consuming considerable amounts of fuel, the fluctuating price of oil can have an adverse effect on costs, particularly air cargo, which has to fly long haul frequently.
However, with fuel efficiency software, there is an opportunity to plan ahead and use the solution to make the most of the situation, according to Honeywell.
“Fuel purchase is very complex process, which we don’t influence. We help airlines reduce the amount of fuel spent, but we don’t deal with the fuel purchasing / hedging / etc,” Mitov said.
Deploying fuel efficiency strategies is a great way for operators to take control of their fuel consumption and boost savings as a result. Besides supporting fuel efficiency initiatives within the airline, the GoDirect Fuel Efficiency software serves as a flight data analytics platform which supports the decision-making process in variety of situations.
“Given the fact that fuel costs are 20-40% of the operational expenses – yes, the fuel efficiency has direct impact on the operational cost”.
Major changes required
A welcome change in the aviation industry would be the standardization of the interfaces for collecting data produced during flight. Having a standard data bus, which provides all efficiency related data, would be highly beneficial for the industry.
Deploying the latest technology in any setting means that you have the most up-to-date features, software and capabilities to improve efficiency. Newer technologies have also a better ROI, due to lower maintenance and support costs associated with it.
“The GoDirect Fuel Efficiency is a pure software solution which doesn’t require any aircraft modifications or reconfigurations. The only necessary change is for operators to deploy the software necessary to make the analyses. This is a huge benefit, as no major installations will be required to update the fleets,” concludes Mitov.