Etihad Airways and Boeing today announced a first-of-its-kind ‘eco partnership’, in which a specially-themed Boeing 787 Dreamliner will be used to test products, procedures and initiatives designed to reduce aircraft carbon emissions.
- Themed Boeing 787 to assist in researching
sustainability initiatives
- Etihad to operate Boeing 787 ‘eco flight’ from Abu
Dhabi to Brussels
- Airline urges whole of industry to collaborate on
reducing CO2
The ‘Etihad Greenliner’, to be introduced early next year, will be
used by both companies to explore and assess environmental sustainability
initiatives while the aircraft operates scheduled services across the airline’s
network. Other stakeholders, from equipment suppliers to airspace regulators,
will be invited to join the companies in advancing and testing efficiency
measures on or with the ‘Greenliner’.
Etihad also announced that it would operate a Boeing 787 ‘eco
flight’ from Abu Dhabi to Brussels during Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in
January 2020, incorporating a wide range of environment-focused initiatives.
The blended green-blue design for the themed aircraft was unveiled
at the 2019 Dubai International Air Show by Tony Douglas, Group Chief Executive
Officer of the Etihad Aviation Group, and Stanley Deal, Executive Vice
President of The Boeing Company, and President and CEO of Boeing Commercial
Airplanes.
Mr Douglas said: “The rapid growth of air travel has increased
aircraft carbon emissions, and it is the responsibility the aviation industry
to reverse this trend. The ‘Etihad Greenliner’ will highlight the shared
commitment of Etihad and Boeing to advance sustainable practices in aviation.
“The graduated blue tones of this design represent the importance
of water in Arabic life and culture and symbolise the ‘blue sky’ thinking
needed to deliver practical, incremental initiatives to progressively lower fuel
consumption and carbon emissions.”
Mr Deal said: “The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has revolutionised
commercial aviation in many ways. Its breakthrough design and advanced
technology have translated into greater fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions.
We are delighted to partner with Etihad to leverage the Dreamliner platform to
identify ways to further improve sustainability in airline operations.”
Etihad has the largest fleet of Dreamliners in the Middle East,
and one of the largest in the world, with 30 787-9s and six of the larger
787-10s.
It has introduced them on 38 of its 76 passenger routes to replace
less-efficient aircraft, increase capacity, and pioneer new markets, and will
continue to expand their use in 2020.
The deployment of 787s has led to significant reductions in fuel
use and carbon emissions across the airline’s network, independently of other
initiatives.
Working groups will be formed between the flight operations and
engineering arms of both companies, with senior pilots and engineers from
Boeing’s 787 Division leading sessions at Etihad’s Abu Dhabi headquarters to
identify and explore more emission-reducing measures, from changed operating
practices to weight-saving initiatives.
The new partnership between Etihad and Boeing builds upon their
existing membership of Abu Dhabi’s Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium
(SBRC), an academic and industrial cooperative whose members also include
Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and the specialist
technology groups Safran and Bauer Resources.
The SBRC is working to develop commercial quantities of biofuel
from saltwater-tolerant plants, and the first commercial service to use this
fuel was an Etihad Boeing 787 flight from Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam in January
this year. More such flights are planned using the new ‘Etihad Greenliner’.