Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific and Google are expanding AI-powered flight trials designed to steer aircraft away from contrail-forming zones in the Asia-Pacific region, using the data to inform broader sustainability decisions.
Condensation trails, or contrails, formed when aircraft flew through cold, humid patches of air, trapping atmospheric heat and accounting for roughly one-third of aviation’s total climate impact, Kemal Armada, product manager for climate and AI at Google, said on Monday.
He said the second phase of trials would include non-governmental organisation Contrails.org as a partner. A randomised controlled trial on ultra-long-haul flights across Asia and transpacific routes would be conducted.
“With this, we are going to expand our partnership into its new phase, where we are going to do a much larger trial that is going to include ultra-long-haul flights,” Armada said.
Cathay became the first commercial airline in the Asia-Pacific region to test the technology in live operations and the first globally to test contrail avoidance on ultra-long-haul routes, said Michael Yue, managing director and general manager at Google Hong Kong.
“It gives us a great opportunity to use predictive AI and to find cost-effective, scalable ways to mitigate the impact of contrails on the overall climate impact,” Yue said.