NATS signs with Royal Jet to help the Middle East business jet operator step up its environmental performance
Royal Jet is the world's single largest independent BBJ operator
Wed 4 July 2012 – The UK’s air navigation service provider NATS is to assist the leading Middle East private jet company Royal Jet in improving the operator’s fuel efficiency and environmental performance of its flights in UK airspace. NATS will provide Royal Jet with actual data to monitor its Flight Profiles and the two partners will plan workshops to enhance flight crew awareness and flight efficiency. The Abu Dhabi-based operator will use the 3Di measurement system developed by NATS to quantify the environmental impact of all its flights and track improvements. Launched earlier this year, the 3Di (three dimensional inefficiency score) airspace flight efficiency metric is already being used to measure the efficiency of every flight in the UK and it is currently being rolled out to other international markets.
“We are excited about the level of efficiency we can achieve with the support of NATS,” said Shane O’Hare, President & CEO of Royal Jet. “By being able to benchmark our performance with detailed data, we will be able to set meaningful goals and measure success. Royal Jet strives to achieve excellence in every aspect of our operations, and NATS is the only partner who will assist us to extend this to our environmental impact.”
Chaired by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, a minister in the UAE Federal Cabinet, Royal Jet has a fleet of six Boeing Business Jets – which makes it the world's single largest independent BBJ operator – plus two mid-range Gulfstream 300s and a Lear Jet 60. It has been voted the ‘World’s Leading Private Jet Service' by the World Travel Awards for five consecutive years.
John Swift, Middle East Director, NATS said: “We look forward to working with the Royal Jet team on achieving its environmental goals, which are closely aligned with our own. Royal Jet has become one of the first carriers in the Middle East to make this commitment to improving efficiency, but we expect many more to follow as other aviation companies see the benefits they stand to gain.”
The 3Di metric was produced following several years of work by NATS in consultation with airlines and the CAA, the UK regulator (see article). NATS claims to be the first and only air traffic management company to monitor and measure the fuel burn of all its managed flights, and was the first ATM provider in the world to set an environmental target to reduce CO2 emissions for aircraft under its control by an average 10% per flight by 2020.
The ANSP says by changing the design and operation of airspace, and raising awareness with airlines of how to achieve optimum flight efficiency, the aviation industry can make significant improvements in environmental performance.
