AENA, the airports authority, has designated Almeria airport as a test site for its new “glide-in” fuel savings measures.
The idea is to change flight routes, passing them through previously military held airspace, to allow planes to cut their engines for the last 180 kilometers of their routes into the airports. By flying a more direct route into the airport, instead of having to stick to tight flight paths, airplanes can apparently just cut engines and float gently back down to ground, instead of having to bank and roll.
Well, I assume that they won’t “cut” their engines, but just throttle back.
Almeria, Granada and Jerez airports are the first three airports in Spain to start doing this, and if successful, the scheme will be rolled out to other airports across Spain.
I do wonder what they mean by “successful” – ie, no crashes?
AENA hopes that this measure will cut into the 25,000 tons of fuel used annually by planes circling into Spanish airports. It’s alongside other cost cutting measures such as firing the three airport controllers at Almeria and replacing them with a talking computer.