FAA plans to reduce the time planes spend taxiing on the runway

(Marketplace — 9/30/21)

The Federal Aviation Administration announced this week that it will soon start rolling out new software at 27 U.S. airports that is designed to reduce the amount of time planes spend taxiing and idling on the runway – that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Planes burn a fair amount of fuel when taxiing down a runway and idling there, waiting to take off… Dan Rutherford at the International Council on Clean Transportation, said “U.S. airlines use about 20 billion gallons of fuel per year, so we are talking about less than .1% of our overall fuel use.” That’s partly because U.S. airports are already pretty efficient.
“And, it points to the need really to fundamental, transformational change in aircraft design, and then also developing low-carbon fuels,” Rutherford said. One challenge with the switch to low-carbon fuels, Rutherford said, is that they’re much more expensive than fossil fuels. Which could mean higher ticket prices for customers.