Norwegian Air Uses New Tool to Reduce CO2 Emissions

The app will help with cost and fuel savings for the airline as well as reduce CO2 emissions. 

Norwegian Air will incorporate the SkyBreathe tool and application, a fuel-preservation solution for airlines to optimize each flight to reduce carbon emissions and aid in fuel cost savings.

The SkyBreathe app leverages Big Data algorithms developed through an EU-funded Clean Sky project to ascertain the amount of fuel consumption on every flight, factoring actual flight conditions and other variables (Payload, weather conditions, flight path, Air Traffic Control constraints, etc.). With the new app, Norwegian seeks to reduce emissions by 140,000 tons per year.

“At Norwegian, we’re continuously working to find new tools to reduce both CO2 emissions and fuel consumption. With the SkyBreathe app, we receive large amounts of data for each flight and this data provides relevant information about how we can fly smarter and even more efficiently,” said Stig Patey, manager fuel saving at Norwegian.

After six months of testing with Norwegian Air pilots, the app proved to be effective with the potential to save large amounts of fuel per year. For example, by turning off one of the engines when taxiing to the gate, 20 kilos of fuel can be saved on each flight. Other examples are so-called Green Approaches* and using the brakes instead of engine reverse thrust when slowing the aircraft after landing can help reduce fuel usage. SkyBreathe enables Norwegian to save up to 3,700 tons of fuel and reduce CO2 emission by 11,600 tons per month or 140,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year.

Norwegian has been named the Most Fuel-Efficient Airline on Transatlantic Routes by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) twice. Additionally, since 2008, the airline has reduced carbon emissions by 30 percent utilizing new technology and operating a young fleet.