ABU DHABI: Etihad Airways signed a contract on Wednesday with SATAVIA, a UK-based green aerospace firm, for contrail management within daily flight operations.
Under the agreement, the two will work together to generate future carbon credits from contrail management activity.
The contract was signed by Etihad’s Head of Sustainability and Excellence Mariam Al-Qubaisi and SATAVIA CEO Dr. Adam Durant at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.
“In 2022 alone, SATAVIA technology has enabled us to eliminate thousands of tons of carbon dioxide equivalent climate impact,” Al-Qubaisi said
“We are delighted to sign this pioneering contract with SATAVIA at WFES, signaling our intent to tackle aviation’s non-CO2 impacts with cutting-edge science and ground-breaking technical innovation,” she added.
In addition to facilitating contrail management, SATAVIA undertakes climate impact analyses in preparation for the future conversion of carbon credits to be shared with Etihad.
“By implementing minimal changes to a small percentage of flights, eco-conscious operators like Etihad can eliminate most of their non-CO2 climate footprint with little to no impact on day-to-day operations and on shorter timescales than other green aviation interventions,” Durant said.
According to Etihad, aircraft-generated condensation trails are responsible for up to two-thirds of aviation’s climate impact.
SATAVIA says that its contrail management platform optimizes commercial flight plans for greener operations by implementing minor route adjustments on a minority of flights to prevent the formation of persistent warming contrails.
