Leaving on a jet plane . . . and flying greener, to boot

Behavioral study with Virgin Atlantic’s pilots saves big on fuel and carbon emissions

What’s the best way to reduce the airline industry’s carbon footprint?

A friendly chat with your pilots, apparently, is a great place to start.

That’s the word from the National Bureau of Economic Research, which recently carried out a behavioral study involving pilots from Virgin Atlantic Airways.

The airline industry is often singled out for its environmental impact, given steady growth in air travel—an estimated 5.2-percent increase in global passenger kilometers from 1992 to 2005—and the resulting carbon emissions.

Acutely aware of the direct relationship between aircraft fuel use, carbon emissions and cost, Virgin Atlantic enlisted researchers from the University of Chicago and the London School of Economics to evaluate the effectiveness of feedback, targets and charitable incentives on pilots’ tendency to maximize fuel efficiency.

For one group of pilots, business continued as usual. For the other three groups, or “intervention groups,” pilots were encouraged to save jet fuel prior to takeoff, while en route, and following arrival—with escalating levels of engagement, from monthly tailored feedback to operational targets to charitable incentives.

Over eight months of 2014, during 40,000 flights made by 335 pilots, the results were eye-opening—fuel savings of about 6,828 tonnes (valued at $C5.5 million), and preventing the emission of 21,507 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Study results indicate that most of the savings came from pilots simply being aware that they were being monitored, with even more resulting from feedback on their performance.

This method “outperforms every other reported carbon abatement technology of which we are aware,” according to the researchers. “Notifying captains that fuel efficiency is being studied, as well as providing them with tailored information, targets and feedback, are highly cost-effective methods for changing behaviors and achieving fuel, carbon and cost savings.”

Pilots have considerable control over the amount of fuel they use in flight. These decisions include:

• How much fuel to take on prior to departure;
• Speed, altitude, route and other factors while in flight; and
• Shutting down one or more engines while taxiing.

“These small-cost interventions can really have large ramifications for savings, not only for the airline, but for society,” University of Chicago economist Robert Metcalfe, one of the study’s authors, told the Washington Post.

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