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Speech

Press Conference

Thanks, Mike [McCarron],and let me say what a pleasure it is to be here. You’ll be hearing in just a moment from the Mayor, Captain Morgan, Director Martin, and Ashley Smout, the CEO of Airways New Zealand.

Let me take a few moments to put today in context.

Here’s what we know. Greenhouse gases are real, and as citizens of this planet, it’s our collective duty to step up wherever we can. Aviation’s doing just that, and today is a prime example. Aviation represents less than 3 percent of the world’s total for greenhouse gases. Nevertheless, we’re looking at every possibility to whittle away at numbers that already are very low.

But even at that, the need for efficiency has never been greater. With jet fuel going for three to four dollars a gallon, and more people than ever wanting to fly, we need to do everything we can to ensure that aviation remains a safe and efficient means of getting there.

Truth be told, we’ve already demonstrated that we can tackle these problems in a real growth environment. Greenhouse gas emissions generated by the U.S. aviation system have actually dropped by about three percent since the year 2000. At the very same time, airlines moved more passengers and freight. In fact, the cumulative reductions in fuel consumption in aviation since 2000 are the equivalent of taking two million cars off the road each year. That’s not surprising, since aircraft and aircraft engines have become dramatically more efficient, resulting in a 70 percent improvement in fuel efficiency over the last 40 years. 

Clearly, we’re headed in the right direction, and today is another big step. Today is the first of several demonstration flights for a gate-to-gate concept we call ASPIRE, the Asia-South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions. It touches every aspect of flight from the time a plane spends taxiing on the ground to how quickly it climbs, the directness of the route it takes, and how smoothly it descends.

Every minute you save from a flight translates in to fuel and emissions reductions, which become significant over the course of a year. Some of our the test runs into San Francisco run earlier this year have cut fuel burn by 152,000 pounds and CO₂ by almost half-a-million pounds. 

Today is a great day for aviation. This initiative has gone from concept to flight in just a little over six months. The partnership to make it happen among the FAA, Airways New Zealand and Airservices Australia was only announced at the Singapore Air Show in February. I tell you, good ideas catch on. We’ve already been approached by other potential partners in the region. That’s just what we want to hear because ASPIRE can only reach its full potential if the entire region becomes involved.

Let me outline the details on ASPIRE:  First and foremost, we’ll be optimizing departures to minimize aircraft run time before take off. That means the jets will get from the gate to the runway as quickly and smoothly as possible. It’s like a town that doesn’t need traffic signals because all of the car movements are synchronized.

After takeoff comes collaborative oceanic trajectory optimization, which promises major fuel reduction at cruise. Don’t let that phrase throw you. It’s engineer-speak that means we give planes the most direct, fuel-efficient high-altitude routing, taking wind and weather into consideration. Air New Zealand estimates that steps like these already save each of its flights nearly 500 pounds of fuel. That’s the equivalent of 9,000 pounds of CO₂.

Heading into the destination, ASPIRE calls for oceanic tailored arrivals, a low power, continuous descent approach that has planes gliding smoothly in to the runway with minimal power. That cuts fuel, noise and emissions. It could save as much as a ton of CO₂ per flight. That’s like planting a tree with each flight.

ASPIRE and its sister program with Europe, the Atlantic Initiative to Reduce Emissions, are the right ideas at the right time. We hope that today’s flight will be followed soon by a similar welcome for our Atlantic initiative. You can also be certain that we intend to create similar initiatives around the world. They all embrace the concepts of NextGen, which if you’re following aviation, you know is the major modernization and transformation of America’s national airspace system. NextGen will help us handle the need to safely manage increases in traffic and passengers that will come to pass within the next decade or so and the imperative to address the energy and environmental concerns challenging this industry.

NextGen is more than a focus on enhancing safety and capacity. It pushes for accelerating low noise and emissions aircraft technology. It fosters the development of sustainable alternative fuels. It deploys satellite technology that eliminates unnecessary equipment on the ground. NextGen revolutionizes how we run the system. And it’s a clear victory for the taxpayer, passengers, and the environment. Thank you.