Airbus has demonstrated how formation flying can aid sustainability with two of its test A350s
flying across the AtlanticOcean. Dubbed the quote-unquote “final demonstration,” Airbus
is taking inspiration from the formation flying employed by geese, Airbus has been
working hard on the idea since 2019. Let’s take a look at this project’s latest development.
Across the world, the airline industry is looking to cut CO2 emissions.
No idea is off the table, with some such as Etihad going as far as to calculate optimal routes that
avoid generating contrails. While Airbus is also pursuing Hydrogen flight, a solution that might
be easier to implement today is the concept of formation flying, especially on high-density
routes such as the North Atlantic Tracks. On November 9th, two Airbus A350s departed
Toulouse in close succession. Taking off first was the A350-900 with MSN1, registered as F-WXWB. This
departed from Toulouse as flight AIB1 at 08:57. Moments later, the Airbus A350-1000 with MSN59,
registered as F-WMIL, took to the skies above Toulouse at 08:59 as flight AIB 2.
Following a slight deviation in their flight path over France to line up,
the two jets flew in formation from the west of France until they were well over Canada.
They then flew to Montreal in formation over the Atlantic Ocean
and landed just a minute apart at 10:40 and 10:41, respectively. The aircraft used the
General Air Traffic airspace over the Atlantic to avoid clogging the North Atlantic Tracks.
It seems as though the mission was a success. Airbus commented that during the flight,
the second aircraft saved more than six tons of CO2. According to the planemaker,
this equates to around 5% on long-haul flights. Airbus Chief Technical Officer,
Sabine Klauke, commented, “This demonstration flight
is a concrete example of our commitment to making our decarbonisation roadmap a reality…
The opportunity to get this deployed for passenger aircraft around the middle of this decade
is very promising. Imagine the potential if fello’fly was deployed across the industry!”
Airbus’ fello’fly concept is an interesting one. Planes don’t fly one behind the other but
instead in a diagonal pattern, as seen when birds such as ducks and geese take flight in groups.
The two aircraft have a connected flight control system that talks to each other. The trailing
aircraft sits in the leader’s wake updraft, which slightly reduces the work that it needs to do.
While the technology is undoubtedly exciting, it seems as though it would be a headache to
implement. It would require aircraft departures to be coordinated to ensure that one aircraft
isn’t hanging around for another, which could prove challenging on a commercial basis.
This could be problematic when technical issues or passenger problems occur on one aircraft.
However, it seems more like a technology that could be employed when aircraft
are entering major airways such as the North Atlantic Tracks at the same time.
Indeed, it would’ve been perfect for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, who operated
simultaneous flights from London Heathrow to New York the day prior. Of course, in this situation,
you also need to decide which aircraft gets to follow and benefit from fuel savings.
What do you make of Airbus’ formation flying initiative?
Let us know what you think and why in the comments!