SESAR
co-sponsored project under the AIRE initiative established state-of-the art
fuel efficient procedures to lower emissions, enhance operations and reduce
noise
Reklāma
Riga. Latvian
airline airBaltic together with its consortium
partners AirbusProSky and Latvijas Gaisa Satiksme completed the
AMBER project under the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce
Emissions (AIRE).
Announced in 2013,
the AMBER enabled the operation of Europe’s first green flights for turboprop
aircraft. AMBER has laid a solid
foundation to establish new arrival procedures for Riga Airport that will
shorten the distances flown, improve flight trajectories to avoid residential
areas and reduce people’s exposure to noise, as well as cut fuel consumption
and emissions. The project introduced satellite-based approach procedures at
Riga Airport for airBaltic’s state-of-the art Bombardier Q400 Next Gen turboprop aircraft and thus helped to practice
greener flying.
The main objective of
the AMBER (Arrival Modernization for
Better Efficiency in Riga) project was to introduce new arrival procedures at
Riga International Airport, to reduce CO2 emissions and noise levels at the
airport and close vicinity, especially the touristic Jurmala area located on
the coastline of Latvia, north west of the airport. The new trajectory is up to
30 nautical miles shorter towards runway than what was being flown previously,
and enables reducing CO2 emissions by up to 300 kg on every Q400 flight. When rolled out to its full
scale, the green flying will reduce CO2 emissions by 5 000 000 kilograms
annually for airBaltic.
“The
new green procedures that have been established and flown with our Bombardier Q400 Next Gen turboprops will
be available to any airline flying to Riga with the relevant aircraft
equipment. The procedures will also be suitable for our brand new Bombardier CSeries jets, which will be introduced into service in 2015, and
will provide further benefits for operations out of Riga, on top of their
unmatched fuel efficiency”, states
Capt. Pauls Calitis, Vice President Flight Operations of airBaltic.
The
AMBER project is implemented by airBaltic in partnership with Airbus ProSky subsidiary specialized in
modern flight operations solutions and Latvia’s Air Navigation Service Provider
LGS and sponsored by SESAR, the air traffic management
research programme of the Singe European
Sky. With this project, SESAR
will be able to demonstrate that the entire commercial aviation community,
including regional aircraft, can change and reduce its impact on the
environment.
airBaltic serves 60
destinations from its home base in Riga, Latvia. airBaltic offers convenient connections via North Hub Riga to its
network spanning Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, CIS and the Middle East.
AMBER project explained, video: http://www.airbaltic.com/en/video
airBaltic in brief:
AIR BALTIC CORPORATION
(airBaltic) is a joint stock company
that was established in 1995. Its primary shareholder is the Latvian state,
which holds 99.8% of the stock. The airBaltic
fleet consists of 25 aircraft – 13 Boeing
737 and 12 Bombardier Q400Next Gen.
airBaltic offers nonstop flights from
its hub in Riga, Latvia. airBaltic
received the title of Airline of the Year 2009/2010 (Gold Award) from the
European Regions Airline Association. airBaltic
is the winner of Air Transport World
Phoenix Award 2010 - a global recognition of excellence in restructuring
business. airBaltic won a special
Pacesetter Award 2010 from the Jury of the Budgies World Low Cost Airline
Awards, recognising the achievements of airBaltic
as a hybrid airline. In 2012, airBaltic
was ranked by Airlinetrends among the Top 10 airlines globally for innovations.
To publish this article please contact BalticTravelnews.eu editorial board
MOST POPULAR of WEEK
