This week’s Airbus Summit aims to draw attention to the aircraft manufacturer’s efforts towards more sustainable aerospace operations. And, for the most part, the topics covered are well known. Hydrogen power, SAFs, unified European airspace, and more top the bill.
But beyond these major, structural changes the industry must consider are smaller opportunities to extract relatively quick wins. One such effort comes from upstart Caeli Nova and its innovative new passenger emergency oxygen system, Cordillera.
Cordillera uses Caeli Nova’s patented technology to improve passenger oxygenation in the rare event of an emergency decompression. Cordillera extends the performance of existing oxygen systems by enabling the aircraft to safely divert at a higher altitude. This allows to operate the most direct air routes, often over high terrain. Reduced flight times and therefore fuel usage and carbon emissions result from the efforts.
Overflying the Himalayas could deliver significant fuel savings for a number of airlines. Today they cannot, however, because of limited passenger oxygen reserves on board and a need for rapid descent. With the Cordillera kit on board an aircraft can perform an emergency diversion at 21,000 feet rather than 10,000. That opens up significant opportunities.
The company forecasts savings greater than $360 million per year and up to 900k tonnes of emissions reduction.
In addition, Cordillera will deliver optimized payload planning especially for twin engine aircraft and weight savings compared to existing legacy systems.
Over the past three years we have built a team that is able to adapt quickly and operate highly collaboratively to drive innovation forward. For example, in December 2020 we received initial Design Organisation approval from EASA following an intensive fourteen-month process, an achievement that can take companies significantly longer. We will be bringing this agile approach to our work with Airbus and look forward to seeing the results.
– Tim Wakeford, CEO at Caeli Nova
With the new partnership, Airbus can leverage Caeli Nova’s technology and innovation approach, ensuring that certification and installation are swiftly achieved, and delivering customers the benefits of this technology in an optimized timeframe.
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