5 February 2008
Innovation

Airbus is to be a key participant in the newly-launched European Clean Sky initiative, which will apply technology to help reach the ambitious environmental targets established by the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE).

“The environmental challenges facing aviation today are global and will require multinational collaboration for the best solutions. Innovation, alternative fuels, research and technology are some key enablers and air traffic management is another,” said Airbus President and CEO, Tom Enders. “Being an eco-efficient company is key to Airbus’ vision to help the industry prosper responsibly, with less and less impact on the environment. Clean Sky is a great platform to continue down this path.”

Airbus will play a leading role in many areas of Clean Sky, including major participation on active wing technology, which aims at a reduction in CO2 emissions and noise.

The purpose of Clean Sky is to demonstrate and validate new technologies in large scale and realistic flight demonstrations. The Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative is one of the largest ever European-funded R&T programmes, with a total budget of 1.6 billion euros over seven years.

ACARE targets a 50 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions, 80 per cent reduction in NOx emissions, and 50 per cent reduction in noise by 2020, compared to aircraft in service in 2000.