As part of the European Commission, Clean Sky research program, aimed at a Greener Aviation, has issued a call for proposal for a research project to optimize aircraft performance through the use of Artificial Intelligence. The project was attributed to Paris based start-up Safety Line, specialized in Big Data solutions for aviation safety and efficiency, who named it “Perf AI”. Safety Line is supported in this project by its long-term partner, the French national research institute for digital sciences, Inria, and has invited two airlines, Lufthansa and Transavia France to join the project advisory board.

In its continued efforts to tackle environmental issues, the European Commission launches Clean Sky 2

Clean Sky 2 is the largest European research program developing innovative, cutting-edge technology aimed at reducing CO2, gas emissions, and noise levels produced by aircraft. By funding projects like Perf AI, this program contributes to achieve environmental objectives defined by the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE) in the aviation industry.

Artificial Intelligence to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions in the aviation industry

Fuel burn is affected by a number of parameters including weather and individual aircraft performance, which may vary from one aircraft to the other within the same fleet. The project aims at leveraging flight data to obtain Machine Learning performance models for the purpose of optimizing fuel burn. This also includes optimizing flight trajectories based on actual aircraft performance and more accurate weather inputs.

Safety Line’s founder and CEO, Pierre Jouniaux, stated: “Thanks to Clean Sky’s support and to the active participation of our research and airline partners, we look forward to reducing the gap between theory and the real world in order to optimize fuel burn and reduce emissions”.

Emmanuel Cachia, VP Flight Operations at Transavia said: “We are thrilled to take our existing partnership with Safety Line one step further as a member of Perf AI’s advisory board, with the prospect of improving our fuel efficiency even further”.

Benjamin Guedj, Research Scientist at Inria and project lead for the Perf AI team at Inria adds: “Our cooperation with Safety Line has allowed us to see some very practical applications to our research efforts, which is quite rewarding”.

About Safety Line

Paris based Safety Line offers Big Data software solutions for the safety and efficiency of airline and airport operations with a focus on fuel and CO2 emissions reduction. The combination of a solid expertise in aviation associated with patented research in data science applied to air transport allow Safety Line to offer uniquely innovative solutions to airline and airport operators. Safety Line’s philosophy of integrating with whichever solutions customers already have in place, through strategic partnerships and an open architecture, allows customers to achieve better results with minimum effort.

Know more about Safety Line: www.safety-line.fr

About Transavia France

Transavia, the low-cost airline of the AIR FRANCE KLM Group, operates scheduled and charter flights out of France (Orly, Nantes and Lyon) and the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Groningen) to more than 119 destinations, primarily in Europe and Northern Africa. With over 14.8 million passengers carried in 2018, Transavia is today the leading low-cost carrier out of Orly airport and the second out of the Paris area (Beauvais, Roissy, Orly). In order to continuously ensure customer satisfaction, Transavia focuses on the quality of its services and the friendliness of its crews. In 2017, this allowed it to be voted for the second time in arrow “Best European low-cost Airline “by Flight Report, a website specializing in airline rankings, and to be declared “Best Brand 2018” by French magazine ‘Capital’, in the ‘Transports – Low Cost Carriers’ category. In 2019, Transavia have been rewarded for it quality of services online with the trophy Qualiweb 2019 in Tourism and Transport category.

Know more about Transavia France: www.transavia.com

About Inria

Inria, the French research institute for digital sciences, promotes scientific excellence and technology transfer to maximise its impact.

It employs 2,400 people. Its 200 agile project teams, generally with academic partners, involve more than 3,000 scientists in meeting the challenges of computer science and mathematics, often at the interface of other disciplines.

Inria works with many companies and has assisted in the creation of over 160 startups. It strives to meet the challenges of the digital transformation of science, society and the economy.

Know more about Inria: www.inria.fr