PHI'S NEW PLYMOUTH BASE INVESTIGATES FUEL EMISSIONS REDUCTION

Across the business, we are looking at ways to partner with our customers, stakeholders and the wider aviation industry to develop innovative solutions and services to support the transition to renewable resources.

As part of this approach, we are looking at what changes we can make internally to reduce our overall carbon footprint. Our New Plymouth Base was recently involved in a project to investigate the potential for fuel reductions outside of using SAF, without compromising PHI’s values—safe, efficient, quality, service.

HomeBase spoke to Russell Pirihi, PHI’s Chief Pilot – New Zealand, and Roger Duncan, PHI’s Base and Contract Manager – New Plymouth, about the program they have been championing, and what it could mean for the rest of PHI Aviation.

Tell us about what was required in preparation for undertaking this initiative.

Roger – We wanted to pursue avenues that would make an impact and had the potential for genuine GHG savings — which is why we looked at aviation fuel burn, as it’s the biggest contributor to PHI’s carbon footprint. The project was set up to explore the potential options we had available to reduce fuel emissions from our operations. Russell is a long-time Captain here and knows the aircraft we operate really well. We began the project by holding a brainstorming session amongst a few key people here.

What were some key considerations for you when embarking on this project?

Roger – The project team explored a few different ideas, firstly whether we could operate the aircraft more efficiently via shortening flight routes—because anything that saves time in-flight will significantly cut down on fuel usage. However, routing changes didn’t bring up any obvious benefits. The routes in place were already as efficient as they could be for the landscape. Flight altitude was also examined— although flying higher typically burns less fuel than flying lower, aircraft burn more fuel to reach higher altitudes.

Russell – What we tried after this was flying at a more efficient cruise speed of 130 kts down from the standard 140 kts—quite a small difference in overall performance, but this has shown between 3-5% reductions in fuel burn, so cruise speed was a big finding in this project. To put that into perspective, that 3% figure is approximately 25 tons of jet fuel a year—it’s not big on the global scale, but it’s big for New Zealand and so is worthy of pursuing. We are also continuing to work with our clients, where possible, to find further efficiencies.

Was sustainable aviation fuel looked at as part of this project?

Roger – There are a number of factors that are left to explore, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is definitely one of those. There has been some work done in this area but it’s early days yet. Sustainable aviation fuel is very expensive so bringing it to New Zealand in conjunction with other aviation operators in New Zealand would be a good start. For now, we need the SAF supply chain to be more advanced in New Zealand.

What was important to keep in mind when conducting this project?

Roger – I’m not a pilot by trade but felt it was important that I made sure that nothing we were looking at would compromise operations, cut corners or compromise on safety. None of the project’s framework could jeopardize how we operate our aircraft or reduce the quality of service we provide. My approach to sustainability at the start of this project was to reduce our wastage and ensure that we were not wasting any resources—fuel or time. Rather than cutting corners, it’s more about reducing wastage and inefficiencies—while keeping the standard high.

Russell – Safety was one of our key considerations. There are safety margins built into fuel reserves already—so in theory if you carry less fuel you can save a little bit, but there was no suggestion we were going to go down that route—and it was key that we retained the way we operate the helicopter. We worked with air traffic control too but never looked for unreasonable shortcuts from them, just suggestions for any potential savings in changes to flight routes. It was actually a good result for us that we went into this project and came out the other side without any huge findings for improvements. This gave us reassurance that, in theory, we were already operating as efficiently as we could be, save for some small potential emissions savings in adjusting cruise speed, which was a great finding.

What’s next for fuel savings at PHI? Could this type of program be rolled out across the company?

Russell – Our ideas for selecting the most efficient ways of operating the aircraft may have implications further afield, but more change is needed to generate more return on some of these efficiencies. We can certainly now share the data we’ve gathered from this project with our other geographical business units, although they will all have different constraints that they operate under, so some of our findings may not be applicable to them. Some considerations for the future for us and for the rest of PHI include exploring the use of different aircraft fuels and different aircraft types.

Roger – Wider adoption also depends to some extent on the approach our clients have and any constraints they have. We don’t have a golden answer yet, but we’ve made a start here in New Plymouth.