Boeing, KLM demonstrate new technologies to optimize flight

Boeing and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have begun a series of commercial flights that will demonstrate how several advanced technologies, fuels and concepts can significantly improve operational efficiency, save fuel and reduce carbon and noise emissions. The technology demonstration encompasses all aspects of an aircraft's flight – preflight, takeoff, cruise, descent and post-landing. The first of the flights, with a KLM Boeing 777-200 aircraft flying round trip from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, took off March 11th. A total of 26 flights are planned for a program called “Optimal Flight” that will continue through 2013. Each flight is being powered in part by sustainable aviation biofuel sourced from used cooking oil. Boeing is at the epicenter of the industry's efforts to develop and commercialize renewable fuel sources that don't compete with food, water or land resources. The flights also feature new services that provide various advisories directly into the aircraft's flight management computer (FMC) and mobile device in the flight deck. If the Optimal Flight Program is successful, Boeing and KLM will establish new operational procedures and recommendations for follow-on development programs with the partners, including NLR, TU Delft (Delft University of Technology), John F. Kennedy International Airport, Gander, Shanwick, NATS Domestic and Schiphol Group.