easyJet va mettre à niveau sa flotte de la famille A320 avec l'"optimisation du profil de descente" (DPO) d'Airbus - une amélioration de la base de données de performances du système de gestion de vol (FMS) embarqué de l'avion et "l'approche en descente continue" (CDA) pour réduire impact sonore au sol. La compagnie aérienne européenne court-courrier deviendra le plus grand opérateur mondial en utilisant ces puissantes solutions combinées.
“While our ultimate ambition is to achieve zero carbon emission flying, we must continue our focus on reducing the carbon emissions in our operation each and every day. That’s why this multi-million-pound investment is an important step in achieving a permanent reduction in the short-term which will see us operating the largest fleet of DPO and CDA enabled aircraft in the world. But one crucial element to reduce carbon emissions right now cannot be achieved by the industry alone, and so we are also calling on governments to introduce airspace modernization right now, including finally implementing the Single European Sky,” said Captain David Morgan, easyJet’s interim COO.
“We are very pleased that easyJet will equip its entire Airbus A320-family-fleet with these state-of-the-art technologies. Emission reduction in aviation is most successfully achieved as a team effort – aircraft manufacturers joining forces with airlines and air traffic management. By combining the use of DPO and CDA, easyJet will further reduce its fuel consumption while optimising the trajectory of all its flights,” said Wouter Van Wersch, Executive Vice President, Region and Sales Europe.
Les fonctions DPO et CDA permettent aux aéronefs de descendre de l'altitude de croisière en utilisant uniquement la poussée du moteur au ralenti. Cela réduit la consommation de carburant et les réductions associées de CO2 et de NOx (émissions d'oxyde d'azote) ainsi que le bruit. Pour améliorer encore la réduction du carburant et l'impact sonore, le DPO et le CDA maximisent le temps passé à un niveau de croisière efficace - en ne commençant pas la descente trop tôt et en supprimant l'étape de « palier » au bas de la descente lorsque les moteurs de l'avion génèrent de la poussée pour maintenir le vol en palier dans un air dense avant l'approche d'atterrissage finale.
Suite à la mise à niveau, qui sera en place d'ici la fin de 2023, l'ensemble de la flotte d'easyJet, composée de plus de 300 avions de la famille A320 d'Airbus, sera équipée de DPO et en plus de CDA pour les avions compatibles.
Optimisation of the aircraft’s flight trajectory is one of the key factors to further improve efficiency in cooperation with Air Traffic Control. By optimizing the descent trajectories of its aircraft and reducing the fuel flow to the engines -arising from the lowest ‘idle’ thrust setting during the descent phase- thanks to the DPO and CDA functions, easyJet will save more than 98,000 kg of fuel per year per aircraft across its network in Europe. This will reduce CO2 emissions by over 311 tons per year per aircraft, or 88,600 tons of CO2 each year for the entire A320 Family fleet, representing a significant contribution to more sustainable flight operations.
DPO and CDA are just some of the several flight operations optimization solutions offered by Airbus and its flight operations services subsidiary Navblue. Together with improved Air Traffic Management, these fuel savings and emissions reductions solutions enable operators to start aviation decarbonization now.
