News
TRACECA ETS Seminar
ENVISA organised the Aviation ETS and Climate Change Policy Seminar for TRACECA project on December 14-15 in Istanbul. Read more...
Clean Sky SGO ITD
ENVISA is on track to take part to joint research projects for the Clean Sky SGO (Systems for Green Operations) ITD starting early 2010. More details soon...
EUROCONTROL's INVENTAIR
ENVISA was mandated by EUROCONTROL to create a website dedicated to global aircraft emissions. The site will allow registered users to download and visualise worldwide emission grids based on WISDOM flight movement database.
Aircraft Retrofit Action to Comply to the 8.33kHz Vertical Expansion Programme (above FL195) – Environmental Assessment
Dates: 2005
From 1999 through the Vertical Expansion programme implementation in March 2007, aircraft not equipped with 8.33kHz compatible radios were allowed to fly over Europe up to FL240 (24,000 feet). Since then the 8.33kHz obligatory airspace has been lowered to FL195. Unequipped aircraft are only allowed to operate up to FL190. Aircraft operators have to decide which solution is the most profitable for them: invest in 8.33kHz equipment to maintain flight levels up to FL240 or elect to fly below 8.33kHz mandatory airspace with the drawback of flying even lower than before.
ENVISA addressed environmental and economic aspects of the 8.33kHz Vertical Expansion programme, which included:
- an analysis of the meteorological consequences of flying at lower altitudes including the exposure to bad weather conditions
- an overall conflict count giving an indication of potential impacts on traffic complexity and subsequent controller workload
- an environmental impact analysis estimating the consequences on CO2, H2O, SOx, NOx, CO, HC, VOC and TOG emissions
- A business case assessment estimating the profitability for aircraft operators to invest in 8.33kHz equipment.