The potential fuel savings of CRISTAL ITP are bigger than you might think. Airbus estimates that a widebody jet could cut its fuel consumption by 374 pounds per transatlantic flight if it were able to shift altitude to reach maximum fuel efficiency. With 700 jets crisscrossing the Atlantic each day, that means over 260,000 pounds of fuel per day. Do the math, and that means a CO2 cut of 558,000 pounds per day (160,000 pounds of fuel = 23,390 gallons. One gallon jet fuel produces 23.88 lbs CO2 according to Earthlab). Airbus plans to have the CRISTAL ITP procedure up and running over the Atlantic no later than 2010.
Airbus isn’t the only one advocating the use of ADS-B technology. America’s Air Traffic Control Association can’t stop talking about it, saying that replacing the United States’ antiquated radar-based navigation with a GPS technology is the only way to prevent U.S. flight delays from getting far worse.
