Driven by innovation: The Lufthansa Group is investing in new technology to transmit flight path information in real time

Every drop counts: an optimized flight path that saves fuel and reduces CO2₂-missions. By standardly installing an innovative new technology for transmitting flight profile information in its new A320neo / A321neo aircraft, the Lufthansa Group wants to further improve control of airspace in Europe, avoiding unnecessary turns and thus flying more sustainably. As early as 2024, the Lufthansa Group will receive more than 65 Airbus A320neo / A321neo aircraft on order – equipped with the new flight profile information technology ADS-C EPP (Automatic Dependent Monitoring – Extended Contract Profile). As a pioneer, the airline group invests in new technology at an early stage and promotes its introduction across Europe as quickly as possible. From 2028, the new technology should be installed as standard in all newly delivered aircraft and ground ATC systems in the European Union.

In the future, the new technology of real-time flight path information transmission will automatically transmit the four-dimensional flight path information generated by the aircraft’s flight management system to air traffic control at any time. The so-called four-dimensional flight path describes the additional path of flight in the three spatial dimensions (length, width, and height) and time as a fourth dimension. Based on more accurate information about the aircraft’s further flight path, air traffic controllers can control the airspace more efficiently and improve the aircraft’s guidance.

The Lufthansa Group is taking a leading role in using new technologies for more sustainable aviation. That is why we made the conscious decision to use new technology to transmit real-time route information as standard on our new Airbus A320neo / A321neo aircraft as early as 2024. From next year, our pilots will be able to fly more efficiently on the first flights within Europe and thus reduce Carbon Dioxide₂– Reduce emissions, ”says Dr. Detlev Kaeser, Member of the Board of Management for Fleet and Technology at the Lufthansa Group.

An important contribution to the modernization of EU airspace

The automatic transmission of flight path information contributes to the modernization of EU airspace. In the future, aircraft of the new Lufthansa Group equipped with ADS-C EPP will initially be able to use the new technology in Maastricht Airspace (MUAC), the first airspace in Europe that meets all the requirements for this. The Lufthansa Group is working together with other air traffic controllers to ensure that more and more European airspace can be flown more fuel-efficiently as quickly as possible. The new technology is currently approved for aircraft of the Airbus A320 family and the Airbus A330neo.

The Lufthansa Group is pursuing ambitious sustainability goals

The Lufthansa Group has set itself ambitious climate protection targets and aims to achieve a carbon dioxide neutral balance by 2050. By 2030, the airline group wants to halve its net CO2 emissions compared to 2019 through reduction and offset measures. The reduction target by 2030 was validated in August 2022 by the Independent Science Targets Initiative (SBTi). The Lufthansa Group was the first aviation group in Europe with a scientific objective of CO2 reduction in line with the objectives of the 2015 Paris Climate Protection Agreement. For effective climate protection, the Lufthansa Group relies in particular on accelerated modernization of the fleet and continuous improvement of flight operations, sustainable fuel use and aviation offers for passengers private and corporate clients to make air travel or freight transportation more sustainable. In addition, the Lufthansa Group has been actively supporting global climate and weather research for many years.