The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has activated 169 new air traffic routes along the country’s East Coast.
The routes, the agency says, are "more direct, saving passengers time, airlines fuel and increasing safety". The FAA adds that the direct routes will "shave off" 40,000 miles and 6,000 minutes of travel time annually due to the shorter distances involved. "The change helps prevent delays by giving the agency more capacity to direct traffic to specific routes based on the aircraft’s destination," it says. "When weather occurs, controllers will also have more flexibility. Finally, fewer converging points and more simple flows enhance safety." The new routes operate primarily above 18,000 feet in altitude along the East Coast, as well as offshore areas over the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. The FAA says it has "sunset the legacy routes built when aircraft largely relied on ground-based radar, limiting the directness of routes, instead of GPS". Tim Arel, chief operating officer of the FAA’s air traffic organisation, states: "These significant improvements to our national airspace system are just in time for summer and will help travelers get to their destinations more efficiently." "The new routes will reduce complexity and redistribute volume across all available airspace. I’m proud of the FAA and industry’s strong collaboration on this project to get it done." The FAA says it has worked for over seven years with the industry to develop and implement the new flightpaths.

UK leisure airline Jet2 is investing in a sustainable aviation fuel production facility that will provide the carrier with 200 million litres over a 15-year period. The Fulcrum NorthPoint facility is being developed by California-based Fulcrum BioEnergy in northwestern England, and will use waste-to-fuels technology to turn non-recyclable household refuse into 100 million litres of SAF annually. Production is set to begin in 2027 and consume 600,000 tonnes of non-recyclable household waste annually. Fulcrum's technology has already been deployed at its first commercial-scale facility in the US state of Nevada. The project received £16.8 million ($20.2 million) from the UK Department for Transport's Advanced Fuels Fund earlier this year, Fulcrum notes. Jet2 has not revealed how much it is investing in the project. Each Airbus A321neo, soon to be the most-common aircraft in Jet2’s fleet, can hold around 12,900 litres of fuel, according to the manufacturer, implying that the agreement is equivalent to around 86 fully refuelled aircraft per month. "The announcement means that Jet2.com, the UK's third-largest airline, will receive a significant volume of SAF produced at the plant once in operation," the carrier states. "The SAF is expected to achieve net emissions reductions totalling around 400,000 tonnes of CO2 for Jet2.com over the 15-year period of the agreement." SAF will be delivered directly to Manchester airport using the existing jet fuel pipework infrastructure, rather than being transported via the road network. It is forecast to achieve lifecycle emissions reductions of around 70% compared with conventional aviation fuel, potentially even becoming carbon-neutral in the future. "This significant investment into Fulcrum NorthPoint's Sustainable Aviation Fuel production in the UK shows not only how seriously we take that responsibility, but also how committed we are to taking tangible actions to address it," states Jet2 chief executive Steve Heapy. "Not only will this action help to lower our climate impacts, but it represents a major step forward in our transition to net zero too."

The European Union's Clean Aviation joint undertaking is providing €100 million ($110 million) in research funding to mature engine technology for CFM International's RISE open-fan demonstrator programme. Safran – CFM's joint owner, alongside GE Aerospace – will lead the European R&D programme, dubbed OFELIA (open fan for environmental low impact of aviation), which involves a further 26 partners across the region, including Airbus, GE's Italian subsidiary Avio Aero, GKN Aerospace and French aerospace research lab ONERA. "OFELIA’s objective is to demonstrate the benefits of an open-fan architecture in terms of efficiency, to address the needs of a future generation of short- and medium-range aircraft around 2035," Safran states. Airbus's planned zero-emission aircraft is scheduled to enter service in 2035. Last year, the European airframer and CFM disclosed a plan to separately trial open-rotor and hydrogen-combustion demonstrator engines on a modified A380 test aircraft by the end of 2026. One of CFM's objectives with its RISE (revolutionary innovation for sustainable engines) programme is to mature powerplant technology compatible for both 100% sustainable aviation fuel and hydrogen. CFM targets a 20% fuel saving versus its current Leap series, which powers Boeing 737 Max jets and, as options, Airbus's A320neo family and Comac C919. Under the OFELIA programme, Safran and its partners intend to mature, to technology readiness Level 5, a range of fan, low/high-pressure gas turbine and hybridisation systems for the planned flight demonstrator. Safran says the programme will specifically address whirl flutter, the engine's unducted fan (previously shown to comprise a single rotor stage and second static vane stage); low- and high-pressure compressor aerodynamics; and LP turbine, fan gearbox propulsion and hybrid-electric technology. More than 20 tests will be conducted through the partnership, Safran notes. Airbus's role will be to prepare a preliminary dossier for the A380 flight tests. "The open-fan architecture is the major innovation of our CFM RISE technology demonstration programme with GE Aerospace and stands as a key driver to improve next-generation engine's efficiency," states Michel Brioude, executive vice-president engineering and R&T of Safran's engine division. The French aerospace group highlights that it is exploring several ways of reducing aircraft emissions and cites its participation in the Avio Aero-led Clean Aviation project HYDEA, to develop hydrogen-combustion engine technology. Clean Aviation executive director Axel Krein describes OFELIA as one of 20 "daring projects that are researching innovative solutions to power the next generation of sustainable aircraft". He states: "Together with the European Union, European aviation has the power to lead the way towards a climate-neutral aviation system and set new global standards for safe, reliable, affordable and clean air transport."