New technology to allow Heathrow to prioritise emission targets

Heathrow will now be able to measure and choose to prioritise the environmental performance of arriving flights, thanks to technology developed by air traffic service provider, NATS.  

Known as Demand Capacity Balancer, DCB is a ‘digital twin’ that can predict and model future operational performance in near real-time.  

In operation at Heathrow since 2015, DCB allows Heathrow to understand the impact of the wide range of factors that influence on time performance, from the strength of global winds to the location of airspace restrictions. The airport team use it to simulate thousands of potential scenarios to be sure they’re working to the optimum operational plan each day.   

Up until now, the technology has been used to prioritise punctuality – helping save 47,000 minutes of delay a year, worth £4.1 million* – and that same analytical power is now being aimed at reducing emissions.  

NATS is rolling out a suite of new environmental performance-based features for DCB that will allow Heathrow to measure the efficiency of arriving aircraft and to identify the best daily operating plan to deliver the schedule and minimise aircraft CO₂ emissions.  

When combined with DCB’s target time of arrival functionality, which NATS plans to trial from the start of 2025, this could mean requesting minor changes to an aircraft’s speed, potentially hundreds or thousands of miles away from the airport. NATS expects these small changes to individual flights to add savings of up to 30,000 tonnes of CO₂ a year**.

These environmental savings for Heathrow will also provide benefits to airlines, passengers and local residents through reduced airborne holding and overall fuel burn on the approach into London. The move aligns with the ‘people and planet’ beacon of Heathrow’s updated business strategy, setting out the roadmap for how the airport will reach net zero by 2050, while delivering the best value to its customers.

Kelly Stone, Head of Airport Operations, Heathrow said: “It is fantastic to see the Demand Capacity Balancer’s use extended to environmental performance. Small incremental steps like this are vital to reduce ‘in the air’ emissions to reach Heathrow’s goal of net zero by 2050. I am grateful for NATS’ ongoing commitment in bringing world first technology to Heathrow helping us be an extraordinary airport, fit for the future.”

Guy Adams, Managing Director of NATS Services, said: “Demand Capacity Balancer is a proven success at Heathrow, helping save several millions of pounds a year by reducing delay, so it makes perfect sense to harness that same analytical technology to include environmental performance. No other airport in the world has this capability, and NATS is proud to be supporting Heathrow’s ambition.”    

As a ‘digital twin’, Demand Capacity Balancer can model future airport performance and the impact of any changes to the flight schedule in near real-time. The tool was used extensively to manage the impact of the airspace restrictions required during the Queen’s funeral, allowing for 85% of the normal schedule to run on time.  

DCB was developed jointly by NATS and Frequentis. Its new suite of environmental tools are due to go live at Heathrow in November.  

Note to Editors

* EUROCONTROL standard inputs for economic analyses (Edition 9.0), January 2021. Cost of Delay -Recommended Values – Network average cost of Air Traffic Flow Management delay, per Minute)” giving an average cost per minute of €100. The conversion value used €1.124569 (2021 yearly average), giving a £ conversion of £88.92 per minute. 

** Based on trials and modelling showing optimisation for minimising carbon generation KPIs using Target Time of Arrivals could provide a 15 to 40% reduction in airborne and ground holding in peak periods averaged over one year of operations.