Virgin Atlantic Will Evaluate Aircraft Towing to Cut Emissions

Virgin Atlantic will evaluate towing departing aircraft to a holding area, close to their takeoff runway before starting engines, in an effort to reduce fuel burn and its resulting CO₂ emissions.

The concept, called "starting grids," was proposed by the Virgin Atlantic's chairman, Sir Richard Branson, along with other emission-reduction ideas at the end of September.  The idea is to have a holding area, close to a runway, to which an aircraft can be towed before takeoff to reduce the time that engines need to be running.  An aircraft would only need to start its engines once on the grid, around 10 minutes before moving onto the runway.

Virgin Atlantic will conduct the trials, at London's Heathrow and Gatwick throughout December on a series of its B-747-400 departures, with the assistance of the BAA (airport authority) and NATS (U.K.'s air traffic control service provider), to validate the necessary operational procedures.  A longer, more detailed trial will likely take place in the first quarter of 2007.

Virgin Atlantic says it's holding talks with airport officials at San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York's Kennedy about the timing of similar trials.  12-05-2006.

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