SAS using 'green' flights to cut emissions

International media gathered in Stockholm, Sweden, earlier this month to watch the landing of Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) "green" flight, one of 2,000 the airline has made since 2005.

In December last year, SAS became the first airline to conclude Europe's first commercial trans-Atlantic green approach flight, achieved through careful planning that brings the jetliner to directly to the runway without lost time and energy waiting to land.

Media representatives from Japan, Greece, the United Kingdom and France boarded a special flight that also included Anders Ehrling, CEO of SAS Sweden, Hans Ollongren, SAS senior vice-president in charge of corporate public affairs & environment and Niels Eirik Nertun, director of environment and sustainability in SAS.

Throughout the flight, passengers were given presentations and step-by-step explanations of the process by the pilot, commander Hans Sjoberg.

"Green approaches are an important step toward reaching our environmental goals to reduce our emission by 50 percent per seat-km by 2020, and we would be more than happy to export our knowledge to other parts of the world. If we can introduce the green approach concept around the world the fuel savings will be enormous," says Anders Ehrling.

SAS has already made more than 2,000 A-CDAs - advanced continuous descent approach - flights in Sweden with Boeing 737s. It is the first commercial airline worldwide to invest in the environmentally conscious program and test it over a number of years.

Savings totaled about 100 kilos of fuel and 315 kilos of carbon dioxide (CO2) on every green approach. SAS estimates potential savings of 150 kilos of fuel and 470 kilos of CO2 when green approaches are used in more dense traffic.

In December 2007, SAS made the first trans-Atlantic green approach with an Airbus A330 on a flight from New York to Stockholm. SAS has since continued to test green approaches on trans-Atlantic flights from Chicago and New York to Stockholm arriving on off-peak slots.

Future A-CDAs could save 492 tons of fuel and 1,550 tons of CO2 on long-haul each flight, the airline said.

(China Daily 06/05/2008 page19)