Making skies greener

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Making skies greener

Balancing growth with environmental impact

How can India’s aviation industry balance growth with environmental commitments?

Increased connectivity, new destinations, low-fare airlines and a growing economy are encouraging more Indians take to the skies.

Airline companies are expanding their operations and fleet sizes to meet this growing demand. With new forecasts from IATA indicating a phenomenal growth of 478 million air passengers by 2036, the future of India’s aviation industry has never looked brighter.

Creating the right balance

Worldwide, the aviation sector has taken significant steps to address environmental issues, including changes to operational procedures - both in the air and on the ground - as well as investment in cleaner and more fuel-efficient aircraft and engine technology.

As the demand for air travel in India increases, the industry too should focus on being able to grow in the most sustainable way.

While the government can play its part in supporting the aviation ecosystem, for example by modernising existing airport infrastructure and drawing up supportive policies and framework; airline companies can also step up with improvements in operational efficiencies, such as minimising empty seats, reducing cabin weights, as well as investing in more fuel-efficient aircraft to balance growth with environmental commitments.

Already, the government in its National Civil Aviation Policy has committed to pursue limitation of CO² emissions in Indian aviation in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Paris agreement. This will ensure that the sector is not left behind in making its contribution to the country’s climate change goals.

Taking to the skies

Passenger growth

IATA forecasts indicate phenomenal growth of 478 million air passengers by 2036

Making skies greener

Decades of technological advancements have made aircraft engines more fuel-efficient, at a rate of about 1% per year, and this is expected to continue.

Any savings in fuel cost reduces operational cost as well as carbon emissions. Airlines in India, looking to expand and upgrade their fleet to deliver greater connectivity, stand to gain significantly on both fronts, from investments in new aircraft models with state-of-art technologies and more fuel-efficient engines.

As a leading aero engine manufacturer, Rolls-Royce has spent decades improving the performance and fuel efficiency of our engines. In 2017, out of the £1.4 billion we spent on research and development, more than two-thirds was spent towards improving the environmental performance of products, helping our customers minimise the environmental impact of engines.

Since our Trent engines first came into service in the 1990s, technological advances have been progressively introduced to make them more fuel-efficient, more cost-effective to own and maintain, and to reduce emissions and noise. For example, the Trent XWB is the world’s most efficient large aero engine flying today and includes advanced materials and the latest fan system technology. It balances fuel efficiency and life cycle costs while delivering weight savings and improved aerodynamics. The trend continued with our Trent 7000 which will power the Airbus A330neo into service in 2018. It is not only 6dB quieter than the Trent 700, which powers the Airbus A330; it also features a 10% specific fuel consumption improvement.

The future

The global aviation industry has set a target of 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 - and there's recognition that this will only be achievable with a revolutionary shift in how we design or power aircraft.

Of course, with advancements in digitalisation and availability of mass data, the aviation industry can look for opportunities for bringing in greater efficiency and economic benefits. Step changes in aviation technology such as hybrid and electric aircraft are also on the horizon.

Our pioneering IntelligentEngine vision provides a roadmap for the future of aircraft power that will help deliver passengers more reliably and more efficiently than ever before. It brings together product and service, supercharged by digital technology interconnecting the worlds of product and service for design, testing, and maintaining engines.

With electric and hybrid-electric propulsion seen as among the most promising technologies for mitigating several environmental issues, we have teamed up with Airbus and Siemens to work on a new hybrid-electric technology flight demonstrator, E-Fan X, which is due to take to the skies in 2020.

India’s aviation industry will continue to grow at a healthy pace. This means the industry must take necessary steps, including operational measures, more fuel-efficient technology and infrastructure improvements to become more environmentally responsible.

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Rolls-Royce develops and delivers complex power and propulsion solutions for safety-critical applications in the air, at sea and on land.