All the equipment kits required for the installation of the DPO performance software on LATAM’s A320 Family fleet will start to be delivered from the end of 2021 until early 2022.
The DPO function allows aircraft to descend from cruise altitude using only idle engine thrust, which reduces fuel consumption, bringing proportional CO2 and NOx (nitrogen oxide emissions) reductions. To further enhance the fuel reduction DPO maximizes the time spent at an efficient cruise level -by not starting the descent too early- and subsequently minimizing the amount of time spent at an inefficient ‘level-off stage at the bottom of the descent –when the aircraft’s engines generate thrust to maintain level flight in dense air prior to final landing approach.
Optimization of the aircraft’s flight trajectory is one of the key factors to further improve efficiency in cooperation with Air Traffic Control. By optimizing the descent trajectories of its aircraft and reducing the fuel flow to the engines -arising from the lowest ‘idle’ thrust setting during the descent phase- thanks to the DPO function, LATAM Airlines will generate over 100 tons of fuel savings per year per aircraft across their network, including constrained airports like Lima, Santiago, and São Paulo. This will reduce CO2 emissions by over 300 tons per year per aircraft, representing a significant contribution to more sustainable flight operations with 60,000 tons of CO2 each year for the entire LATAM Airlines’ A320 Family fleet.
DPO is one of the several flight operations optimization solutions offered by Airbus and its flight operations services subsidiary NAVBLUE. Together with improved Air Traffic Management, these fuel savings solutions enable operators to start aviation decarbonization now.
