Alaska Airlines Implements New Ground Air Units
Source: Alaska Airlines
Jun 30, 2008 - 3:24:56 PM
|
|
SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines announced today it is now using mobile ground-based
air units for cabin venting, cooling and heat on parked aircraft at nearly all
its gates at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The airline also announced it
has retrofitted all its 737s capable of using blended winglets. The two projects
are the latest in a series of ongoing initiatives by the carrier to conserve
fuel and reduce carbon emissions.
Since 2002, these efforts have reduced
the amount of fuel Alaska Airlines uses to transport one passenger one mile by
17 percent. The accompanying reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is equivalent
to taking 130,000 cars off the road for one year.
The diesel-powered
preconditioned air units, along with ground-based electrical power, replace the
use of an aircraft's onboard auxiliary power unit (APU), which runs on jet fuel.
The ground-based units burn about 10 times less fuel than APUs, meaning the new
units will significantly reduce costs and benefit the environment by lowering
carbon emissions.
At Sea-Tac Airport, the use of preconditioned air units
at 19 gates is expected to conserve more than 1.1 million gallons of fuel per
year, saving the company $2.6 million annually based on the current pump price,
said Kristin Fuson, an Alaska Airlines flight operations engineer and the
project manager. Although the units burn diesel fuel, carbon dioxide emissions
will be reduced by 24 million pounds a year because of dramatically less fuel
burn, Fuson said.
Annual savings will more than double to 2.4 million
gallons of fuel and $5.5 million once the units are in place at Alaska Airlines'
other hubs in Anchorage, LAX, Portland and San Francisco later in the
year.
Alaska Airlines had been moving toward using ground-based air units
for about two years. The units make even better economic sense with oil prices
hovering around $135 a barrel, Fuson said.
The airline has purchased or
leased 33 mobile air units for the five hub airports. Even with the initial cost
of $65,000 per unit, the machines pay for themselves in about 1½ years, Fuson
said. If the project is successful, more units will be purchased for other
airports. Starting in September, some fixed units will be installed at all the
hubs. The fixed units are powered by electricity from the airports and do not
burn fuel or produce emissions.
Earlier this month, Alaska Airlines also
completed retrofitting all its existing 737s capable of using blended winglets.
All new aircraft are delivered with blended winglets.
Winglets improve
an aircraft's fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 3
percent — or some 100,000 gallons a year per aircraft. The winglets are
manufactured by Seattle-based Aviation Partners Boeing. By the end of this year,
Alaska Airlines will be flying 74 Next-Generation 737s with winglets,
representing 64 percent of its 116-aircraft fleet.
"The gold standard in
winglets, our technology has saved the industry and the world community more
than 1 billion gallons of fuel to date with projected additional fuel savings of
more than 175 million gallons in 2008," said Joe Clark, Aviation Partners Boeing
founder and chairman. "No other airplane modification will provide the fuel
savings and eco-friendly benefits of our blended winglet technology."
Alaska Airlines has undertaken several other fuel-saving initiatives in
the past year. Among them:
·Speeding up retirement of its MD-80s to fly
only fuel-efficient 737s. The airline's remaining seven MD-80s will be taken out
of service Aug. 25 instead of the end of December, as originally
planned.
·Using only one engine when taxiing jets for maintenance to
conserve fuel.
·Employing more satellite-based navigation. Since 1996,
Alaska Airlines has pioneered a technology called Required Navigation
Performance. RNP enables aircraft to fly more direct routes with pinpoint
accuracy and reduce diversions due to weather by using onboard navigation
technology and the Global Positioning System satellite network. The airline uses
RNP at remote and geographically challenging airports throughout the state of
Alaska, as well as in Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; Palm Springs, Calif.; and
at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
·Using lighter-weight
catering carts. Since retrofitting all of its aircraft with lighter-weight carts
in September 2006, the airline has saved nearly 300,000 gallons of fuel
annually.
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air together serve 94 cities
through an expansive network in Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico.
For reservations, visit alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit the
Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Newsroom at alaskaair.com/newsroom.
|
