KEY POINTS:
Getting airlines to follow more efficient flight paths could remove 73 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year, a leading aviation expert says.
International Air Transport Association chief executive officer Giovanni Bisignani says airlines need to see the financial benefits in cutting their carbon emissions.
"You will all be aware that our industry is taking a beating in the environmental debate," Mr Bisignani told a conference in Holland.
"Our critics may have lost perspective.
"But they are absolutely correct in demanding more efficiency."
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its report released a fortnight ago, estimated there is a 12 per cent inefficiency in air traffic management globally.
Mr Bisignani said the flight path inefficiency translates to financial inefficiency.
"That 12 per cent translates into up to 73 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and nearly US$13.5 billion ($19.4 billion) in unnecessary fuel costs.
"Every minute of flying time that we can save reduces fuel consumption by about 62 litres and carbon dioxide emissions by 160 kilograms."
Airways New Zealand spokesperson Ken Mitchell said the systems used by New Zealand air traffic controllers are leading the world in reducing fuel used by airlines.
This April, Airways New Zealand will be introducing the first phase of a project to work with airlines on cutting fuel costs.
The system being developed by Christchurch-based software company Alchemy will link air traffic controllers with airline dispatch systems to organise airport arrival times more efficiently.
Mitchell said the new system will work with airlines to prioritise flights according to the slots available at the destination runway and update pilots on arrival slots.
"Instead of putting their foot down and trying to make up time, or missing it, or holding above the airport, we'll be able to send them a message to tell them to slow down and take their time," said Mitchell.
Airways New Zealand has also developed "pipelines in the sky" to give domestic jet planes the most efficient route.
"The big driver for this in the airline industry internationally is reducing fuel costs. The benefit for the environment is that any reduced fuel-burn results in reduced emissions."
Mitchell said Boeing has begun trials of a system called Tailored Arrivals based on technology that has been in use at Auckland Airport for the past seven years.
Airways New Zealand has spent the past five years training Boeing's controllers in the new system which controls some of the busiest airspace in the world.
Boeing are claiming the system is saving them between 180 kg and 360 kg of fuel per flight.
"The reason they're able to create these fuel savings and reduce their emissions is because they've adapted some technology that we've developed here in Auckland," said Mitchell.
- Helen Twose and AAP