Think of contrails as heat-trapping blankets made of ice that planes leave in the sky. Some blankets are thin and harmless, while others are thick and warm the planet. This work uses AI and better weather sensors to predict exactly where those thick blankets will form so pilots can fly around them.
Aviation's climate impact is underestimated because contrails vary wildly in their warming effect based on weather. Current flight planning lacks the precise humidity data and AI tools to avoid the most damaging contrails without adding excessive fuel costs.
A hybrid-AI algorithm for contrail detection and a database of high-resolution humidity measurements at cruise levels.
If you are an airline operator dealing with increasing pressure to reduce non-CO2 climate impacts — this project developed trajectory optimization tools that allow you to avoid high-impact contrails while minimizing overall costs.
If you are an ANSP dealing with inefficient flight paths that contribute to global warming — this project developed policy-driven implementation schemes for ATM strategies to reduce aviation's climate impact.
If you are a software provider dealing with inaccurate weather data for cruise altitudes — this project developed hybrid-AI assisted assimilation and contrail detection algorithms to improve prediction accuracy.
Based on available project data, the project focuses on minimizing overall cost when implementing climate optimized trajectories, but specific pricing for the solution is not provided.
The project is currently developing AI algorithms and testing water vapor measurements; it is moving toward implementation schemes but is not yet at full industrial scale.
Based on available project data, licensing details are not specified, though the consortium includes 9 partners across 5 countries.
The project aims to develop policy-driven implementation schemes for non-CO2 emissions to help air traffic management reduce climate impact.
The project period runs from 2022-06-01 to 2026-05-31.
The consortium is composed of 9 partners from 5 countries (BE, DE, FR, NL, UK), showing a strong European cross-border collaboration. With an industry ratio of 22% (including 1 SME and 2 industry partners), the project is heavily weighted toward academic and research institutions (5 total), suggesting the output is currently more technical/scientific than a turnkey commercial product.
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