You may not have noticed, but this past Christmas Santa went green. No, his outfit was still red but his flights took advantage of improved air traffic routing, a token contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.
From a press release from Avinor airport group:
From a press release from Avinor airport group:
The annual Santa Claus flights to Rovaniemi, Finland, from the UK will be allotted "green" routes this year from Avinor when they fly through Norwegian airspace. The aim is a reduction in CO2 emissions of 12-15 tons each day.Earlier most of the British Santa Claus flights had to fly point to point routes, which often led them outside Norwegian airspace on their way up to Finland. But international cooperation by Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the UK has now paved the way for shorter travel routes in Norwegian airspace and on to Finland.
No disruption to air traffic
"At peak times 35 planes are headed in each direction daily, and by cutting 7-800 nautical miles off the trip each way, we are talking about a significant reduction in emissions from this traffic," says Jan Gunnar Pedersen from Avinor's Air Navigation Services.
"The Santa Claus traffic is high enough in the airspace so that it does not cause delays for ordinary passenger traffic in Norway. Most of the flights take place during the weekend. Avinor has therefore set up shift schedules so that staffing matches the times during the weekend when the traffic is the heaviest.
"So far there are no indications that we will have problems with this year's ordinary Christmas traffic. We are committed to getting people quickly and safely home for Christmas," concludes Pedersen.
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