Google to test contrail avoidance technology on Atlantic flights

Google Flights already includes a filter that lets travellers select lower-emission options when searching for a journey. However, the Mountain View company now intends to go further by offering airlines minor route adjustments that could substantially cut aircrafts’ climate impact. To achieve this, it is using artificial intelligence to help aircraft steer clear of contrails.

“When you look up at a clear sky and see thin white streaks behind aircraft, you are seeing condensation trails, or ‘contrails’. These clouds form when water vapour condenses around soot particles in jet-engine exhaust. Although they may look harmless, these contrails, which contribute to global warming, account for roughly one third of aviation’s overall climate impact,” Google noted in a recent post.

10,000 flights involved

Google has created an AI system capable of forecasting these trails. Following numerous partnerships, including one with American Airlines to test the technology, the company has formally announced a collaboration with the UK government to assess it on a larger scale. Under the trial, called Operation Blue Skies, the AI will be deployed in Swanwick airspace, covering the eastern half of the North Atlantic corridor.

“The 30-month programme includes two operational trials, each lasting around four months,” Google explained. During the testing periods, nearly 10,000 flights a year are expected to pass through this airspace. Some aircraft will be diverted slightly during those periods to avoid contrails.

Google’s contrail prediction technology

To build the system, Google studied satellite imagery, while its engineers spent hundreds of hours labelling tens of thousands of contrail images. This work enabled the development of a computer-vision model that can recognise contrails. The computer-vision model was then combined with a vast volume of weather information, flight data and satellite images to produce an AI system able to predict them.

The technology’s effectiveness has already been shown through the partnership between Google and American Airlines. In March, Google stated: “Contrail forecasts generated by Google’s AI were incorporated into American Airlines’ flight-planning software and used in a trial covering 2,400 transatlantic flights in the airline’s regular flight schedule. For flights that successfully followed contrail-avoidance plans, the contrail formation rate fell by 62% compared with the control group.”

What you need to know

The new initiative with the UK government has been announced as Google has also bought data, containing no personal information, from an airline that went bankrupt. The Mountain View company had confirmed: “We acquired some of Spirit Airlines’ corporate data, which may prove useful in improving our products and AI models.”