Fact Sheet: Technology Roadmap for Environmental Improvement

1. The IATA Technology Roadmap gives an overview of current and future technologies that can reduce the carbon footprint of aviation
2. It analyzes the potential carbon reduction benefits of new airframe and engine technologies 
3. The Roadmap considers short-term solutions such as retrofits as well as longer-term developments that can only be implemented in new aircraft designs, including radical new aircraft concepts
4. It identifies improvements in fuel efficiency per aircraft on the order of 30% by around 2025 (new generation of regional and single-aisle aircraft)

The following table shows the latest fuel efficiency estimates for implementation of new technologies.

Fuel and carbon efficiency potential for aircraft equipped with new technologies (compared to 2005 baseline)

Timelines and examples of technologies	Total Impact
Retrofits (winglets, riblets, lightweight cabin furnishing)	6 to 9%
Production Upgrades (active load alleviation, composite structure components)	9 to 20%
New aircraft design until the early 2020’s (geared turbofan, counter-rotating fan, laminar flow control)	23 to 30%
New aircraft design for the mid-2020’s or later (advanced turbofan, open rotor, fuel cell for on-board energy)	25 to 40%
New aircraft design well beyond 2020 (blended wing body, revolutionary engines, electrical aircraft)	up to 50%

Most promising technologies for next-generation aircraft

• Laminar flow control technology (natural and hybrid)
• Active load alleviation and variable camber
• Winglets and riblets 
• Structural health monitoring
• Composite structures for wing and fuselage 
• Engine architectures: geared turbofan, advanced turbofan and open rotor

World fleet impact

Thanks to continuous fleet renewal, the average fuel efficiency in the different aircraft size categories of the world fleet will continuously improve over the coming years.

• The strongest efficiency improvement of around 2% p.a. until 2030 is forecasted for the regional aircraft category 
•  Aircraft between 100 and 400 seats are expected to improve by 1.2% to 1.5% per annum  
• The category above 400 seats already consists of a majority of new aircraft (A380)
  Further fuel efficiency improvements from more optimized operations and airport and airspace infrastructure are expected to come on top of these numbers.

Partnership

The IATA Technology Roadmap was elaborated together with the German Aerospace
 Centre (DLR) and the Georgia Institute of Technology, with contributions from over 20 partners from industry and research

Updated: June 2013