{
  "id": 1679625,
  "title": "Klimafreundlicheres Fliegen: Mit KI gegen Erderwärmung: Kondensstreifen verhindern",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/klimafreundlicheres-fliegen-mit-ki-gegen-erderwarmung-kondensstreifen",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-18T09:00:06.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Handelsblatt",
    "slug": "handelsblatt",
    "url": "https://www.handelsblatt.com/technik/it-internet/klimafreundlicheres-fliegen-mit-ki-gegen-erderwaermung-kondensstreifen-verhindern/100247973.html"
  },
  "original_language": "de",
  "account": "A consortium comprising the UK government, leading research institutions, and technology giant Google has embarked on a groundbreaking large-scale experiment named \"Operation Blue Skies\" aimed at making air travel more environmentally friendly. The trial, set to take place over the North Atlantic, seeks to prevent the formation of climate-damaging condensation trails, or contrails, during regular flight operations.\n\nContrails form when hot water vapor from jet engines freezes into ice particles in the cold, moist upper atmosphere. While most of these vapor trails dissipate quickly, some persist for hours, acting as artificial cloud cover that traps heat radiated from the Earth's surface, thus contributing to the greenhouse effect. Estimates suggest that this effect is responsible for about one-third of the aviation sector's overall climate impact.\n\nBy making minor adjustments to flight altitudes—often just a few hundred meters—researchers believe that avoiding contrails presents one of the fastest and most cost-effective climate mitigation strategies. These altitude adjustments need not involve extensive detours, as they typically involve flying just above or below the moist zones where contrails form.\n\nArtificial intelligence plays a crucial role in predicting these critical areas where contrails are most likely to form. Google trains AI models using extensive weather, atmospheric, and flight data to generate precise forecasts of where contrails might develop. This enables air traffic controllers to deliberately divert only those flights that would benefit significantly from a minor altitude correction in terms of climate impact. Additionally, AI algorithms monitor satellite images of the North Atlantic to assess the success of these rerouting maneuvers.\n\nIan Jopson of the UK's NATS air traffic control service emphasized that flight safety remains paramount throughout the experiment. \"Height adjustments to avoid contrails will only be implemented when they are absolutely safe and operationally feasible. In circumstances with minimal operational concerns, the maneuver will not be carried out.\" To minimize risks and prevent overburdening air traffic controllers, the project relies on standard procedures used regularly for handling turbulence, storms, and maintaining safe distances, even when no contrail avoidance is necessary.\n\nSpread across two winter phases over the North Atlantic, this five-year, £5.9 million (approximately $7.4 million) project focuses on the airspace controlled by NATS over the eastern North Atlantic. This corridor is estimated to be responsible for about five percent of the aviation sector's total contrail-induced warming, which is particularly pronounced during winter months. The practical tests will be conducted in two four-month phases during the quieter winter periods of 2026/2027 and 2027/2028. Funded by the UK's Department for Transport through the Aerospace Technology Institute's innovation program, Google provides its AI expertise and supercomputing infrastructure at no cost. Additional contributions of around £1 million come from co-financing and in-kind contributions from other project partners. The aim is to serve as a template for implementing this method globally in standard air traffic control procedures.",
  "summary": "Google und Forschungspartner testen erstmals, wie Künstliche Intelligenz die Bildung von klimaschädlichen Kondensstreifen im Luftverkehr verhindern kann. So soll die „Operation Blue Skies“ gelingen.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}