Airline/Air Carrier Aviation

This concept is a fuel savings program that has safety benefits for the aviation industry as well as tremendous economical advantages.

The safety aspect of this program applies to any high altitude aircraft, and the economical savings are realized by ETOP’s operators .

This savings is gained through regulatory compliance, it is addressed on every flight, and it is the responsibility of the Captain to ensure that there is adequate quantity of this resource prior to departure.

It is important to discuss some general background information concerning the area of ETOP’s that this program revolves around.

The new ETOP’s regulation states in the critical fuel scenario that the pilot must have enough fuel to reach the equal time point, experience a loss of an engine followed by a cabin decompression and descend to 10,000’. The pilot then needs enough fuel to fly to the ETP equal time point alternate at 10,000’ with adequate reserves. The new rule then goes on to say that …..however…the pilot can fly higher than 10,000’ if he has enough oxygen and can comply with FAR 121.329 & FAR 121.333

The program does just that. (Fig. 1) That’s where this savings comes into play. It’s software that’s complies with this regulation and now allows the pilot to flight plan his return fuel to the ETP alternate at 14,000’….not 10,000’. It is this 4000’ difference that can provide a huge fuel savings for the airline industry. Keep in mind that if the operator’s aircraft that has a gaseous oxygen system, the ceiling limit (altitude) is now at 25,000 feet and the fuel savings will dramatically increase.

This program evaluates and inventory’s the oxygen system for both crew and passengers, complies with existing FAR’s, it removes the 10,000’ cap that all air carriers are now operating under thereby allowing the aircraft to operate more efficiently at a higher altitude. Ostensibly it allows the pilot to trade one fuel resource for another…..he can now turn oxygen into fuel.

For this program to be effective, it’s necessary that fuel is added specifically to comply with the ETOP’s segment. Some flight plans have a line item in the main body of the flight plan called “add ETOP’s fuel”. So on your next flight if you see an entry made here, this program can probably save the entire amount. Some flight plans are dispatched with over 20,200lbs of “add ETOP’s fuel”. You can see the savings are significant.

The savings being discussed is simply weight. How and what the pilot does with that weight savings will determine how much money is saved.

Here are some ways that can utilize these savings, the most universal method being simply not to carry the additional fuel otherwise referred to as tankering.

• Use the weight to up load passengers
• Upload cargo
• Quite often the aircraft is weight restricted for takeoff, this is another savings whether it is due to over gross, obstacle limited, second segment climb, landing limited etc.
• Avoid an unnecessary fuel stop.
• Fly a more direct routing over mountainous terrain e.g. Himalayas, Andes Mountains and through the Greenland corridor.
• Improved flight plan efficiency by dispatching with less weight, higher altitudes can be achieved earlier therefore less fuel required for the mission.
• Greater fleet flexibility/interchangeability. It is possible to optimize fleet capacity by using this program. If the operator utilizes an ETOP’s cruise altitude of 14,000’ this increases the range of an aircraft such as the B-737 NG. If this flight is restricted by “add ETOP”s fuel” at 10,000’it can conceivably remove that limitation by employing an oxygen planning program such as the ADS OPP, so that during the winter months as an example when flights to Europe are light, an operator can use the B-737 on the European market and the B-757 in the Caribbean where passenger demand is much greater, thus optimizing seat capacity.

The combinations are endless using this new window of flexibility. This concept will undergo an evolution as it is put into use

Lets take a look at this new found profit. The B-757 200 was used for performance and fuel penalties. Use this as a baseline for savings realizing that the larger aircraft will yield even greater numbers. Fig. 2

An aggressive campaign has been launched by the industry in an attempt to control the financial bleeding cause by the high cost of fuel. Some ETOP’s operators have removed inflight airfones with a weight savings of 200lbs, others are only filling the potable water supply to match stage length and passenger loads in attempts to save on nonessential weight. Efforts such as single engine taxi, no thrust reversers for landing, multiple APU start and shut downs, Cost index modifications attempting to mitigate less than 1% fuel savings and in a recent article in aviation week and technology, Boeing claims that multiple colors on engine nacelles interrupt the laminar flow and could increase fuel burn by as much as 30,000 gallons/year, that’s $73,500 plus whatever the paint job would cost. As you can see some pretty innovative cost cutting measures are being employed.

One aircraft manufacturer indicated that in 2003 there were over 31,300 ETOP’s flights/ month industry wide. That number, multiplied by only half of the weight savings gained by the B-757 on a typical trans-Atlantic flight is simply astronomical. Based on $2.45/gallon the smallest savings would be $626,million, 161 thousand 638 dollars. Based on today’s ETOP’s market, using actual aircraft specific tankering penalties and considering all aircraft types, that global fuel savings could exceed upward to over a billion dollars annually.

The numbers are too big to be ignored. This concept and technology is here to stay.

The ADS Oxygen Planning Product provides a plan that will have a dramatic impact industry wide and keep the airline industry in pace with current technology.

Since the early days of the jet age……flying higher has always equated to greater efficiency. The higher you fly ….the more efficient you become. It’s no secret.

Whether someone would like to debate how much cost or fuel savings there is with this concept, there simply is no disputing that in terms of overall efficiency this program has merit and it should be embraced by the aviation community……there should be no dispute.

Technology is allowing the aviation community to comply with this draconian restriction and it only makes sense to take advantage of this opportunity and capitalize on it now.

I hope you find this program innovative and perhaps an alternative fuel saving solution for your operation.

Click here to view Gulfstream chart.

Click here to view OPP Booklet Instructions.

Click here to view Oxygen Duration Chart.