Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS), South Africa’s air navigation service provider (ANSP), has announced that it has joined the international Green Aviation Insights (GAIN) initiative. GAIN is intended to lead action regarding aviation’s effects on climate change.

“I believe that collaborative programmes such as the GAIN initiative will assist the industry in understanding their contribution and defining measures in improving operational efficiency and reducing aircraft emissions to meet the global target of net-zero by 2050,” explained ATNS acting CEO Matome Moholola. ATNS qualifies as a founding member of the initiative.

GAIN was jointly launched in May, as a not-for-profit initiative, by Azerbaijan Air Navigation Services, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, National Air Traffic Services (NATS) of the UK, and Skeyes (which is Belgium’s ANSP). NATS ss the lead agency for the initiative.

“I’m thrilled to welcome ATNS as a GAIN Founding Member,” highlighted GAIN Steering Group chair and NATS sustainable aviation consultant Rachel Gardner-Poole. “Their passion, expertise and commitment will benefit the entire membership and help widen our global coverage. Tackling climate change requires collaboration across industries and borders; that’s why ANSPs like ATNS and the other founding members can play a leading role, and why I believe GAIN is such a vital initiative on our journey to net zero.”

GAIN is developing a dashboard, through a user-centred process, which will deliver bespoke insights. This will make it a strong tool to deliver targeted ANSP performance improvements, thereby reducing aviation carbon emissions. Early visibility of this dashboard will become available from September, with full launch scheduled for next year.

In Europe alone, it is estimated that inefficiencies in the routing of aircraft increase fuel burn (and thus carbon emissions) per flight by 5% to 11%. Through the use of complex algorithms and employing state-of-the-art analytics, GAIN will allow ANSPs to identify problem locations, create actionable objectives and benchmark their performance.

With ATNS joining GAIN, the members of the initiative now cover more than 10% of global air traffic. Combined, they could potentially save at least 450 000 t of CO₂, simply by improving aircraft routing and airspace management.