Earth Day 2009. All around the globe, the aviation industry is racing to find ways to save fuel. The cost benefits to the industry are certainly a motivating factor. After a brush with near-death due to spiking fuel costs, the industry has begun to move more quickly to reduce consumption and also find alternative sources of power. Green is good, and if it saves money in the process, we're certainly not going to complain if this is what's motivating the industry.

South American carrier LAN Airlines is one of the latest carriers to install fuel-saving devices called winglets on its aircraft. The airline, one of the few actually growing amidst industry turmoil, will install winglets on all of its Boeing 767-300 long range aircraft. The devices make aircraft wings more efficient, providing a fuel savings of 5 per cent. More and more aircraft are featuring winglets as the need for fuel savings comes into greater focus. Many experts predict that fuel prices will slowly rise again, though probably not to levels seen in 2008.

Speaking of fuel savings, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), airports and airlines are testing an aircraft performance technique known as a continuous descent approach (CDA). This technique reduces the need to adjust engine power unnecessarily due to frequent altitude changes that are typical of the step-by-step descent and approach procedures commonly used today. Combining CDA with a more direct routing based on various flight conditions, the aviation industry looks to reduce noise, fuel consumption and emissions.

Aircraft manufacturers are hard at work devising new ways to make aircraft efficient on the ground as well as in the air. Airbus has applied for a patent for a regenerative landing gear and braking system that uses the stored kinetic energy of rotating wheels to help power the gear and brakes. According to Airbus, fewer pipe runs and cables will require less maintenance and repair. In addition, the weight of an aircraft and needed engine power can be reduced which results in less fuel burn. Airbus is also looking to install and test electric motors in aircraft wheels this year in a demonstration of what it calls an electric taxi system.

In an article last month, IAPA applauded various airlines for taking the lead in testing alternative fuel sources. As more aviation stakeholders proactively create and test systems and procedures designed to reduce fuel consumption and harmful emissions, there could be a time, sooner than later, when the safest form of transportation might also be the greenest.