What is included in Safran and Safety Line's new service?

Using the expertise of a team of developers, data analysts, pilots and flight dispatchers, Safran Aircraft Engines has been offering airlines with the SFCO2 service since 2014. This aims to reduce the fuel consumption of their fleets, thus helping them to reduce their carbon footprint. With the agreement signed in May 2016, our offer had been complemented with Safety Line's Opti Climb solution. Specialized in data analysis, this start-up has fine-tuned an innovative solution which significantly reduces fuel consumption in the climb-out phase.

What is at stake?

Aviation currently represents 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity. We are meeting the needs of airlines to improve the operating efficiency of their fleet, while safeguarding the environment. The aim is to make increasing air traffic sustainable. Our solution can be applied to any aircraft with jet engines or propellers. With over 100,000 daily flights worldwide, this represents a significant saving, especially with kerosene being the most expensive expenditure item for airlines.

What does Opti Climb actually do?

The solution was designed using very powerful algorithms and Big Data processing tools. It is based on a measurement and analysis phase where the black-box data, flight operation data and airline maintenance data is analyzed. This allows us to identify the factors which airlines can optimize, and provide airlines with recommendations to adapt their procedures. The Opti Climb solution is focused on the climb-out phase, which represents an average of 20% of the fuel consumption for a short- or medium-haul flight of 2 hours. Digital data on the aircraft's behavior, coupled with the predicted weather conditions, allow us to forecast the ideal climb-out speed and trajectory, leading to a significant reduction in fuel consumption.

What results does this give?

On average 5% to 6% can be saved on fuel. For a fleet of twenty short- and medium-haul aircraft flying an average of 3,500 hours per year, Opti Climb can save US$5 million and over 26,000 tons of CO2 in the atmosphere per year! Some 150 aircraft from Ethiopian Airlines and VietJet already use the solution.

Contributed by Safran Group