Enhancing Sustainable Aviation through Contrail Management – A Framework for Multiple Platforms

Effective contrail management while ensuring operational and economic efficiencies for flight services is essential for providing services with minimal adverse environmental impact. The paper explores various aspects of contrail management applicable to different platforms such as Unmanned vehicles, Commercial airliners and Business & regional jets. The aspects unique to each platform such as flight levels of operation, fuel types, flight endurance and radius of operation have been analyzed. Expanse of 5G network is resulting in increased flight activity at flight levels not envisaged hitherto. The paper also dwells on the ramifications of the increased proliferation of different platforms at newer flight levels from the perspective of contrail management. This paper introduces a framework that integrates the dual objective of minimizing contrail effects while optimizing fuel consumption for commercial aircraft by considering various factors like flight levels, geothermal data and flight time. The paper also examines challenges and strategies related to seamless implementation, thereby highlighting the framework's potential to propel the aviation industry towards environmentally responsible and efficient practices.