FAA Joins EU in Targeting Emissions

As a sign of possible things to come for business aviation, the European Commission and the FAA announced on Monday a joint initiative to reduce aircraft emissions and combat climate change. The Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (Aire) is a partnership between transportation agencies and industry manufacturers, such as Airbus and Boeing; operators, including Air France-KLM, SAS, Delta and FedEx; and providers of aviation navigation services. The goal is to study the effect of “smooth” and “reduced engine” approaches, air traffic modernization–Sesar in Europe and NextGen in the U.S.–and new technologies, to “assess the new measures’ environmental benefits and their operational and technical feasibility.” The future of the aviation industry “depends on its ability to combat climate change through innovation and greater efficiency,” said Jacques Barrot, European Commission vice president for transport. According to the European Union, Aire is the first large-scale environmental initiative that brings together aviation players from both sides of the Atlantic.