08 September 2026
We see contrails all over our skies, the white condensation trails produced by jet engines. The environmental problem is that contrails are responsible for approximately one third of aviation’s total ‘climate impact’. The contrails are composed of frozen water vapor created by the jet engines exhaust.
Enter Goggle AI, Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways and American Airlines. The impact of contrails can be significantly reduced based on early-stage operational trials undertaken last year by Cathay Pacific following previous trials with American Airlines.
One pilot project achieved a 40% decline in the warming impact of contrails by simply prompting pilots to avoid atmospheric sweet spots where they tend to form. Google’s solution combines predictive AI models, satellite imagery and weather data to identify contrail-conducive zones. The information guides pilots to make altitude adjustments and minor route changes, much the same as routine measures taken to avoid or limit exposure to avoid pockets of turbulence.
This climate lever is available to the aviation industry for their existing aircraft fleet and any type of fuel they currently use according to Kemal Armada, Google’s Zurich-based contrail research lead project manager, who points out that it is both low cost and very efficient.
A second and expanded phase of the trial will start shortly across Cathay’s intra-Asia, transpacific and polar networks.
With thanks to Bloomberg’s excellent news coverage on the subject.