1 October 2024: The SESAR Green-GEAR project is focused on optimising air traffic management (ATM) to support greener aviation operations and supports the ambitions laid out in the European Green Deal.

A key aspect of this project is the development of an innovative 'green route charging' mechanism. This system seeks to incentivise airlines to choose flight paths with lower environmental impacts by adjusting route charges and incentivising airlines to choose ore eco-friendly routes.

Airlines would be encouraged to avoid areas with high climate impact, while planning through congested airspace or altitudes with significant environmental footprints would be discouraged. The goal is to reduce aviation emissions and improve airspace efficiency, while maintaining a fair route charging structure.

By factoring in environmental considerations in route charges, airlines could be motivated to opt for more eco-friendly routes, aligning operational costs with sustainability goals.

This would promote efficiency, reduce emissions and meet the Single European Sky’s objectives for greener and more dynamic airspace management. It also aligns with the SES2+ proposal which is expected to come in force before the end of this year and foresees environmental modulation of enroute charges.

To support this initiative, the Green-GEAR project team have prepared a survey to better understand the decision-making process and route choices airlines face when navigating tradeoffs in congested European airspace. The data collected will help the project team fine tune their models and develop informed solutions for future route charging mechanisms.

The survey takes approximately 20 minutes to complete and will remain open until 16 October. We encourage all airline members to share their feedback via the following link:

https://GreenGear.sawtoothsoftware.com/cgi-bin/ciwweb.pl?studyname=LV3 [1]

Further details on the project will be provided to the ERA Operations Group at the next meeting in Cologne on 3/4 December.

In case of questions please contact nick.rhodes@eraa.org [2]