Since the first oil crises, Air France has considered fuel to be one of the cornerstones of its cost-savings plans. Since 1999, it has undertaken a vast range of cross-functional measures, covering all the airline’s various sectors (maintenance, flight operations, ground operations, marketing, etc.). This plan contains some twenty measures:
On the ground:
- Optimization of the fuel load according to the final payload.
- The precise calculation of on-board supplies of drinking water, adapted to customer requirements.
- Optimization of the distribution of loads in the aircraft holds which saves fuel consumption in flight by reducing the aerodynamic trail.
did you know
If you reduce the load by 1 tonne on a long-haul flight, you save 300 to 400 kg of fuel.
In flight:
- Optimization of routes, with the ongoing objective of reducing distances and seeking the most suitable flight levels, while taking into account safety, environmental and capacity constraints.
- The shortening of approach paths at Paris-CDG, effective since 2002. Air France has substantially invested in this external measure.
- The « RSVM » (Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum) has been reduced to 1,000 feet thanks to increased precision in navigation instruments. Implemented since 2002 in Europe, now extended to cover other regions of the world, these new standards enable us to allocate flight levels that are closer to optimum conditions and to improve the smooth flow of traffic.
- Taxiing on arrival with one or two engines shut down
- Less use of APUs thanks to the available electricity supply at aircraft parking stands.
- Individual monitoring of the performance of each aircraft enables Air France to identify fluctuations in fuel consumption in order to take the necessary corrective maintenance (Airframe, flight controls, engines, etc.).
- All these measures have enabled Air France to save substantial quantities of fuel. Studies are under way to improve these results by increasing the efficiency of existing measures, wherever possible, and by exploring new areas.
A Jet Fuel Action Plan that works
Following the gradual implementation of the Jet Fuel Action Plan, results are noticeable and have been constantly improving over the past four years.
focus
When the reduction in fuel consumption reconciles economic and environmental interests
Reducing fuel consumption is not only an economic issue for Air France, but it is also an environmental issue, as CO2 emissions, the main greenhouse gas, are directly proportional to fuel consumption. For each ton of fuel consumed, 3.15 tons of CO2 are released into the atmosphere.
Other ways of meeting targets to reduce CO2 emissions include cost-savings plans, fleet modernization programmes and the optimization of hubs (notably the coordination of networks to generate synergies for the AIR FRANCE KLM Group).
