Airbus Technology: EasyJet wants to protect the environment with better landing methods

Committed passengers may soon notice. If you land an Easyjet, the landing will begin a little later. And then it’s steeper too. “One to two degrees,” defines David Morgan, the pilot and interim director of operations for the low-cost airline.

The reason: easyJet is outfitting its entire fleet with new software from Airbus. It improves landing methods. Lineage Profile Optimization or DPO for Short and Continuous Lineage Approach or CDA for short are the names of lineage profiles.

Only A319 will not receive any update

Designed to reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide₂– Reducing emissions by 88,600 tons. According to Easyjet, this corresponds to orbiting the Earth 12,960 times “in an average car”. The new software updates the performance database in the onboard computer (Flight Management System) in a way that reduces landing margins.

The result: the landing begins at the optimal point in time and not too early. At the same time, the goal is to eventually reduce passive phases, as the engines have to generate thrust again in denser air. In the landing phase in between, the engines remain idle – except when the landing has to be interrupted by other aircraft.

European premiere

All new A320 Neo supplied by Airbus already have the software. All other aircraft in the EasyJet fleet will receive them within the next twelve months. Only the Airbus A319 continues to fly without upgrading because the airline is spinning off the smallest plane anyway.

A total of ten airlines around the world chose to upgrade, such as Easyjet. More recently, Chile, Brazil, Latin America. But the British are the first users in Europe.

Higher savings can be achieved

After conversion, he becomes the oldest person It operates a fleet of DPO and CDA capable aircraft in the world, the airline said. The change does not require special training of the crew; The update takes about three hours per aircraft.

In theory, the potential for savings with DPO and CDA programs is much greater. Up to 140 thousand tons of carbon dioxide₂ per aircraft per year, according to Airbus. The fact that Easyjet has not come this far is due to the fact that every airport can only be approached from an efficiency point of view.

The airport and the airspace also have an effect

Morgan said that especially busy airports will have other restrictions due to high traffic and limited time slots. For example, having a lot of traffic in the air means that cockpit crews have to increase thrust again during the landing phase. “But fortunately we don’t only fly to airports like this.”

National boundaries with changing air traffic control can also lead to deviations from the optimal profile. Thus, modernizing European airspace is another way to significantly reduce kerosene consumption and therefore emissions, according to Easyjet. It is a statement that almost all European airlines agree on.

More efficient ways that will help

According to representatives of the so-called Single European Sky, the presence of a single European airspace can save about 10 percent of emissions through more efficient methods.