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        <title>JECATS - recent papers</title>


    <link rel="self" href="https://jecats.copernicus.org/articles/"/>
    <id>https://jecats.copernicus.org/articles/</id>
    <updated>2026-07-16T01:44:29+02:00</updated>
    <author>
        <name>Copernicus Publications</name>
    </author>
        <entry>
            <id>https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-1-3-2026</id>
            <title type="html">Concept of risk-aware contrail avoidance strategies
            </title>
            <link href="https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-1-3-2026"/>
            <summary type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Concept of risk-aware contrail avoidance strategies&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Audran Borella, Cameron Steer, Nicolas Bellouin, and Olivier Boucher&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys., 1, 3, https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-1-3-2026, 2026&lt;br&gt;
                Targeted contrail avoidance consists of rerouting aircraft to minimise the formation of warming contrails. However, current predictions of contrail climate impact are highly uncertain. In this study, we show that some reroutings that were predicted to be beneficial for the climate are in fact damaging it. We further demonstrate that the risk of unintentionally damaging the climate can and should be included in the decision-making of contrail avoidance.
            </summary>
            <content type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Concept of risk-aware contrail avoidance strategies&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Audran Borella, Cameron Steer, Nicolas Bellouin, and Olivier Boucher&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys., 1, 3, https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-1-3-2026, 2026&lt;br&gt;
                <p>Targeted contrail avoidance consists of rerouting aircraft to minimise the formation of contrails whose warming of the climate system can be much larger than that due to the CO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span&gt; emitted for some of the flights. A commonly proposed strategy is to reroute all flights for which the trade-off between additional CO<span class="inline-formula"><sub>2</sub></span&gt; emissions and reduction in contrail warming leads to a climate benefit. However, current predictions of contrail climate impact are highly uncertain. In this study, we describe a framework to integrate the risk of unintentionally damaging the climate in the contrail avoidance decision-making process, using the Contrail Cirrus Prediction model (CoCiP) and operational ensemble weather forecasts. A first strategy consists in optimising trajectories around a best estimate of contrail radiative forcing, then using weather and parametric uncertainties to estimate the risk. In that case, 55&amp;#8201;% of the reroutings have a higher-than-5&amp;#8201;% risk of unintentionally damaging the climate compared to a standard risk-unaware avoidance strategy. This fraction increases to 76&amp;#8201;% at the lowest risk tolerance level. However, the reroutings that are the least risky to operate are also those with the highest potential climate benefit, often referred to as &amp;#8220;big hits&amp;#8221;. Alternatively, accounting for uncertainties from the start of trajectory optimisation allows to mitigate the risk directly when planning the flight. This strategy would even result in a 52&amp;#8201;% higher potential climate benefit compared to the risk-unaware avoidance strategy, at the lowest risk tolerance level. Our results thus demonstrate that the risk of unintentionally damaging the climate can and should be included in the decision-making of contrail avoidance, in particular in the context of early adoption policies.</p>
            </content>
            <author>
                <name>Copernicus Electronic Production Support Office</name>
            </author>
            <published>2026-07-10T01:44:29+02:00</published>
            <updated>2026-07-10T01:44:29+02:00</updated>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <id>https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-1-2-2026</id>
            <title type="html">Improving reanalysis weather for contrail validation by incorporating satellite observations
            </title>
            <link href="https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-1-2-2026"/>
            <summary type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Improving reanalysis weather for contrail validation by incorporating satellite observations&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Scott Geraedts, Aaron Sarna, Susanne Rohs, Roger Teoh, and Kevin McCloskey&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys., 1, 2, https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-1-2-2026, 2026&lt;br&gt;
                It can be difficult to know if a given aircraft made a contrail. Existing methods that can be applied to any aircraft either use numerical weather data or satellite observations. In this work we create a new method by combining weather data and observations together. By comparison to in-situ measurements we show that the new method is superior to previous methods.
            </summary>
            <content type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Improving reanalysis weather for contrail validation by incorporating satellite observations&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Scott Geraedts, Aaron Sarna, Susanne Rohs, Roger Teoh, and Kevin McCloskey&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys., 1, 2, https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-1-2-2026, 2026&lt;br&gt;
                <p>Aviation-induced condensation trails (contrails) contribute significantly to anthropogenic radiative forcing. While navigational contrail avoidance has been proposed as a strategy to mitigate this climate impact, the operational viability of such maneuvers relies on the ability to verify their efficacy. Current verification methodologies often employ contrail models (such as CoCiP) driven by reanalysis weather data; however, these assessments are limited by the variable fidelity of the underlying meteorological datasets. In this work, we address this uncertainty by leveraging geostationary satellite observations to refine reanalysis estimates for specific contrail events. We demonstrate that this approach significantly improves the agreement between reanalysis data and in-situ measurements obtained from the IAGOS program, thereby offering a more robust framework for evaluating avoidance strategies.</p>
            </content>
            <author>
                <name>Copernicus Electronic Production Support Office</name>
            </author>
            <published>2026-07-10T01:44:29+02:00</published>
            <updated>2026-07-10T01:44:29+02:00</updated>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <id>https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-10</id>
            <title type="html">Consolidating and stepping up aviation&#8217;s climate ambition: a comprehensive definition of a climate neutral air transport system
            </title>
            <link href="https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-10"/>
            <summary type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Consolidating and stepping up aviation’s climate ambition: a comprehensive definition of a climate neutral air transport system&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Bram Peerlings and Ligeia Paletti&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., doi:10.5194/jecats-2026-10,2026&lt;br&gt;
                    &lt;b&gt;Preprint under review for JECATS&lt;/b&gt; (discussion: open, 0 comments)&lt;br&gt;
                Aviation organisations have set varied climate goals, but misalignment, ambiguity and internal inconsistencies hinder real progress. This paper addresses this by proposing a comprehensive definition of a climate neutral air transport system: &amp;#8220;air transport system of which the climate effects of all its greenhouse gases and non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; effects throughout the entire life cycle of each element of the system is balanced&amp;#8221;.
            </summary>
            <content type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Consolidating and stepping up aviation’s climate ambition: a comprehensive definition of a climate neutral air transport system&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Bram Peerlings and Ligeia Paletti&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-10,2026&lt;br&gt;
                    &lt;b&gt;Preprint under review for JECATS&lt;/b&gt; (discussion: open, 0 comments)&lt;br&gt;
                To date, commercial aviation contributed approximately 4 % of global anthropogenic climate change through the emission of greenhouse gases during flight and operational non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; climate effects. Over the last few years, numerous aviation-related organisations have set goals to reduce aviation&amp;#8217;s climate impact. These goals, however, lack alignment, are poorly or ambiguously defined, or are internally inconsistent. This increases uncertainty about what aviation should work towards, how various stakeholders can contribute, and introduces problems with respect to accountability. In order to address this issue, this paper presents a comprehensive definition of a climate neutral air transport system as an &amp;#8220;air transport system of which the climate effects of all its greenhouse gases and non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; effects throughout the entire life cycle of each element of the system is balanced&amp;#8221;. The proposed definition spans relevant systems and encompasses all life cycle phases. To achieve a climate neutral air transport system by 2050, all life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; climate effects remaining after in-sector reduction should be neutralised, as should all remaining non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; climate forcing from emissions prior to 2050. Clarity on governance is furthermore needed, as the goal and associated targets proposed should be adopted globally.
            </content>
            <author>
                <name>Copernicus Electronic Production Support Office</name>
            </author>
            <published>2026-07-03T01:44:29+02:00</published>
            <updated>2026-07-03T01:44:29+02:00</updated>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <id>https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-11</id>
            <title type="html">A machine learning approach for contrail detection and persistence prediction using airborne measurements from the ECLIF II/ND-MAX and ecoDemonstrator flight campaigns
            </title>
            <link href="https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-11"/>
            <summary type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;A machine learning approach for contrail detection and persistence prediction using airborne measurements from the ECLIF II/ND-MAX and ecoDemonstrator flight campaigns&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Ariadne K. Papamichou, Evanthia Kallou, Richard H. Moore, Holger Pfaender, and Dimitri N. Mavris&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., doi:10.5194/jecats-2026-11,2026&lt;br&gt;
                    &lt;b&gt;Preprint under review for JECATS&lt;/b&gt; (discussion: open, 2 comments)&lt;br&gt;
                Contrails are thin ice clouds that may form behind aircraft, are responsible for about half of aviation's climate impact, and are hard to detect and predict. Using data from two flight test campaigns, we developed a tool that can be used with a camera mounted on aircraft to detect contrail formation and predict persistence in real time, with camera placement strongly affecting results. Using only this tool and onboard cameras, this lower-cost approach could help reduce aviation's climate impact.
            </summary>
            <content type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;A machine learning approach for contrail detection and persistence prediction using airborne measurements from the ECLIF II/ND-MAX and ecoDemonstrator flight campaigns&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Ariadne K. Papamichou, Evanthia Kallou, Richard H. Moore, Holger Pfaender, and Dimitri N. Mavris&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-11,2026&lt;br&gt;
                    &lt;b&gt;Preprint under review for JECATS&lt;/b&gt; (discussion: open, 2 comments)&lt;br&gt;
                Contrails or condensation trails are a major contributor to aviation-induced cloudiness, which represents a significant, yet highly uncertain, component of aviation's environmental impact. The reliable detection and characterization of contrails has become increasingly important for quantifying their radiative forcing and developing mitigation strategies. However, contrail detection and prediction remains challenging due to their variable optical properties, lack of accuracy in humidity, temperature and pressure sensor measurements, as well as in weather prediction. This paper investigates the use of machine vision on board aircraft to inform contrail formation and classification in real time. The focus of this work is the comparison of two major airborne measurement campaigns conducted by NASA, industry, and international partners: the 2018 NASA &amp;#8211; DLR ECLIF II/ND-MAX and the 2023 NASA &amp;#8211; Boeing ecoDemonstrator flight tests. The atmospheric data from the campaigns are used with the Schmidt-Appleman criterion to identify periods of contrail formation. For the ND-MAX dataset classification accuracies of 94.0 %, 87.1 %, and 81.5 % were obtained for contrail absence, short-lived and persistent categories, respectively. For the ecoDemonstrator dataset the corresponding accuracies were 90.4 %, 89.5 %, and 93.3 %. Comparison between the two campaigns reveals that camera placement affects the classification performance; longer visible contrail segments improve detection for the absence and short-lived categories while reduced airframe intrusion in the camera's field of view improves persistent contrail classification. Based on these findings, some recommendations for camera placement on flights are provided. The approach requires only an onboard camera as additional instrumentation, making it a cost-effective and scalable tool that may complement existing contrail monitoring and mitigation strategies.
            </content>
            <author>
                <name>Copernicus Electronic Production Support Office</name>
            </author>
            <published>2026-06-24T01:44:29+02:00</published>
            <updated>2026-06-24T01:44:29+02:00</updated>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <id>https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-8</id>
            <title type="html">Exchange rates, trade-offs and risks in mitigation options for aviation
            </title>
            <link href="https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-8"/>
            <summary type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Exchange rates, trade-offs and risks in mitigation options for aviation&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Klaus Martin Gierens&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., doi:10.5194/jecats-2026-8,2026&lt;br&gt;
                    &lt;b&gt;Preprint under review for JECATS&lt;/b&gt; (discussion: final response, 3 comments)&lt;br&gt;
                Lessening of non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; aviation impacts on climate is often accompanied by an increase of fuel consumption and emissions. Planning mitigation actions requires balancing the desired climate benefit against inevitable simultaneous climate damage. Due to uncertainty, statistical methods are needed to estimate the failure risk of concrete mitigation measures. This paper presents the required mathematics and assumptions, and points to research needs and alternative risk-aware strategies.
            </summary>
            <content type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Exchange rates, trade-offs and risks in mitigation options for aviation&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Klaus Martin Gierens&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-8,2026&lt;br&gt;
                    &lt;b&gt;Preprint under review for JECATS&lt;/b&gt; (discussion: final response, 3 comments)&lt;br&gt;
                A recently proposed method to mathematically treat trade-offs and associated risks in aviation mitigation options (Prather et al., 2025) leaves, to this author's opinion, many issues open for discussion. The method is critically reviewed and the equations are derived and justified. Issues that remained vague in the recent paper are clarified. Unfortunately, close inspection proves this method to be inadequate for its purpose. An alternative formulation is proposed with transparent and understandable derivations. The unfounded assumptions basic to the original method are discussed and their effects on the final result are shown. It turns out that with the current data basis the proposed risk-analysis method for mitigation in aviation suffer from a certain degree of arbitrariness. Alternative approaches that exploit ensemble weather forecasts seem more promising.
            </content>
            <author>
                <name>Copernicus Electronic Production Support Office</name>
            </author>
            <published>2026-05-08T01:44:29+02:00</published>
            <updated>2026-05-08T01:44:29+02:00</updated>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <id>https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-7</id>
            <title type="html">Expanding spatial and temporal coverage of climate change functions: Assessment and comparison with aCCFs
            </title>
            <link href="https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-7"/>
            <summary type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Expanding spatial and temporal coverage of climate change functions: Assessment and comparison with aCCFs&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Christine Frömming, Volker Grewe, Sigrun Matthes, Simone Dietmüller, Patrick Peter, Katrin Dahlmann, and Patrick Jöckel&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., doi:10.5194/jecats-2026-7,2026&lt;br&gt;
                    &lt;b&gt;Preprint under review for JECATS&lt;/b&gt; (discussion: open, 1 comment)&lt;br&gt;
                Aviation non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; climate effects could be reduced through rerouting using Climate Change Functions (CCFs) and its surrogate aCCFs. This study expands CCFs regionally and seasonally and enables a comparison with aCCFs. ACCFs simplify complex processes but reproduce magnitudes and most gradients, though they underestimate variability compared to detailed CCF simulations and limitations to certain altitudes were revealed. The present study promotes future development of refined and extended aCCFs.
            </summary>
            <content type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Expanding spatial and temporal coverage of climate change functions: Assessment and comparison with aCCFs&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Christine Frömming, Volker Grewe, Sigrun Matthes, Simone Dietmüller, Patrick Peter, Katrin Dahlmann, and Patrick Jöckel&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-7,2026&lt;br&gt;
                    &lt;b&gt;Preprint under review for JECATS&lt;/b&gt; (discussion: open, 1 comment)&lt;br&gt;
                Aviation contributes significantly to climate change through CO<sub>2</sub&gt; emissions and non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; effects such as contrail cirrus and ozone formation. As the latter effects depend strongly on location and time of emission, non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; impacts could bemitigated through optimized routing. Climate Change Functions (CCFs) and algorithmic Climate Change Functions (aCCFs) provide spatially and temporally resolved information on the effect of aviation emissions on the atmosphere, which enable the planning of such eco-efficient flight routes. While CCFs are computationally demanding, aCCFs offer simplified but faster estimates based on correlations with meteorological data, facilitating climate-optimized flight planning applications. As the current applicability of aCCFs is limited to specific regions and seasons according to previously available CCF calculations, this study aims to address these limitations by expanding the spatial and temporal scope of CCFs and by comparing results with existing aCCFs beyond their original temporal and spatial domain. Dedicated contrail and chemistry simulations were accomplished by means of a Lagrangian approach within the ECHAM/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC) climate model to calculate CCFs for a new date and new regions. This study advances aviation non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; climate impact modelling by expanding CCFs to U.S. and European airspaces, to a novel season, enhanced spatial and temporal resolution of contrail effects, refining ozone radiative forcing estimates, and incorporating long-term climate responses over a 100-year time horizon. The new CCFs show consistent magnitudes and spatial gradients with earlier CCFs, but reveal systematic underestimation of contrail radiative forcing due to low optical depths. The comparison of CCFs of the present study with aCCFs outside their design region and season indicates that aCCFs capture general magnitudes and most gradients but underestimate their variability, particularly for contrails and NO<sub>x</sub>-induced effects, and reveals limitations at certain altitudes and seasons. While aCCFs offer a fast alternative for trajectory planning, they simplify complex processes compared to detailed CCF simulations. The comprehensive model setup presented in this study describes a pathway how further refine aCCF formulations and how to expand datasets to improve accuracy and applicability outside their original domain. The new CCFs from this study expand spatial (EU and continental US) and seasonal coverage (spring) and provide valuable data to advance future aCCF formulations for broader applications.
            </content>
            <author>
                <name>Copernicus Electronic Production Support Office</name>
            </author>
            <published>2026-05-05T01:44:29+02:00</published>
            <updated>2026-05-05T01:44:29+02:00</updated>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <id>https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-4</id>
            <title type="html">Efficacy of Scalable Airline-led Contrail Avoidance
            </title>
            <link href="https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-4"/>
            <summary type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Efficacy of Scalable Airline-led Contrail Avoidance&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Tharun Sankar, Thomas Dean, Tristan Abbott, Jill Blickstein, Alejandra Martín Frías, Mark Galyen, Rebecca Grenham, Paul Hodgson, Kevin McCloskey, Alan Pechman, Tyler Robarge, Dinesh Sanekommu, Aaron Sarna, Aaron Sonabend-W, Marc Stettler, Raimund Zopp, and Scott Geraedts&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., doi:10.5194/jecats-2026-4,2026&lt;br&gt;
                    &lt;b&gt;Preprint under review for JECATS&lt;/b&gt; (discussion: final response, 2 comments)&lt;br&gt;
                This randomized control trial provides evidence for the efficacy of airline-led contrail avoidance to reduce aviation's climate impact. By integrating ML forecasts into standard flight planning, dispatchers routed flights to avoid warming contrails. Satellite validation showed an 11.6 % overall reduction in contrails, increasing to 62 % for flights strictly following the optimized paths, all with no significant fuel penalty.
            </summary>
            <content type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Efficacy of Scalable Airline-led Contrail Avoidance&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Tharun Sankar, Thomas Dean, Tristan Abbott, Jill Blickstein, Alejandra Martín Frías, Mark Galyen, Rebecca Grenham, Paul Hodgson, Kevin McCloskey, Alan Pechman, Tyler Robarge, Dinesh Sanekommu, Aaron Sarna, Aaron Sonabend-W, Marc Stettler, Raimund Zopp, and Scott Geraedts&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-4,2026&lt;br&gt;
                    &lt;b&gt;Preprint under review for JECATS&lt;/b&gt; (discussion: final response, 2 comments)&lt;br&gt;
                Contrails account for a large portion of aviation's contribution to anthropogenic climate change. Navigational contrail avoidance is a promising solution to mitigate the warming caused by contrails. Prior trials testing navigational contrail avoidance have relied on bespoke integrations of contrail forecasts into airline operations. Here, we use a randomized control trial to test the feasibility of dispatcher-led contrail avoidance integrated into standard flight planning operations using a workflow that scales to an airline's entire network. We validated the efficacy of this intervention using satellite imagery and an automated flight-contrail attribution algorithm. Using this system, we observed an 11.6 % reduction in contrail formation rate for the 1232 flights marked as eligible for contrail avoidance (intent-to-treat) relative to the flights in the control group (<em>p</em&gt; = 0.011). In the 112 flights that flew contrail avoidance as planned (per-protocol flights), we observed a 62.0 % lower contrail formation rate relative to the flights in the control group (<em>p</em&gt; &lt; 0.001). No statistically significant difference in fuel usage was observed between the two groups.
            </content>
            <author>
                <name>Copernicus Electronic Production Support Office</name>
            </author>
            <published>2026-04-21T01:44:29+02:00</published>
            <updated>2026-04-21T01:44:29+02:00</updated>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <id>https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-3</id>
            <title type="html">D-KULT: data and tools for routine eco-efficient flight operations
            </title>
            <link href="https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-3"/>
            <summary type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;D-KULT: data and tools for routine eco-efficient flight operations&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Sigrun Matthes, Klaus Gierens, Björn Beckmann, Luca Bugliaro, Simone Dietmüller, Christine Frömming, Maleen Hanst, Sina Hofer, Julian Jene, Simon Kirschler, Carmen G. Köhler, Alexander Lau, Ralph Leemüller, Aline Liedtke, Max Mendiguchia Meuser, Patrick Peter, Vanessa Santos Gabriel, Ines Köhler, Gerd Saueressig, Linda Schlemmer, Jonas Sperling, Swen Schlobach, Ralph Schultz, Kristina von Sack, and Nathalie Waltenberg&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., doi:10.5194/jecats-2026-3,2026&lt;br&gt;
                    &lt;b&gt;Revised manuscript under review for JECATS&lt;/b&gt; (discussion: final response, 4 comments)&lt;br&gt;
                Operational strategies such as eco-efficient flight routing have potential to reduce aviation&amp;#8217;s climate effect. A collaborative workflow integrating aviation weather forecasting, flight planning, air traffic control, and climate benefit assessment was developed and tested in D-KULT. Innovative developments demonstrate substantial progress on how to identify alternative trajectories but also highlight remaining challenges, including uncertainties in weather forecast and non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; climate effects.
            </summary>
            <content type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;D-KULT: data and tools for routine eco-efficient flight operations&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Sigrun Matthes, Klaus Gierens, Björn Beckmann, Luca Bugliaro, Simone Dietmüller, Christine Frömming, Maleen Hanst, Sina Hofer, Julian Jene, Simon Kirschler, Carmen G. Köhler, Alexander Lau, Ralph Leemüller, Aline Liedtke, Max Mendiguchia Meuser, Patrick Peter, Vanessa Santos Gabriel, Ines Köhler, Gerd Saueressig, Linda Schlemmer, Jonas Sperling, Swen Schlobach, Ralph Schultz, Kristina von Sack, and Nathalie Waltenberg&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-3,2026&lt;br&gt;
                    &lt;b&gt;Revised manuscript under review for JECATS&lt;/b&gt; (discussion: final response, 4 comments)&lt;br&gt;
                The climate effect of aviation is significant and expected to increase. Reducing the sector&amp;#8217;s environmental footprint to contribute to global temperature targets will require not only investments in airframe and engine technologies but also operational strategies such as eco-efficient flight routing, focusing on reducing non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; effects. The D-KULT project (Demonstrator Climate and Environmentally Friendly Air Transport), funded under the German Federal Aviation Research Programme (LuFo), aims to demonstrate the feasibility of optimising flight trajectories with respect to climate effect. The project addresses a multi-objective optimisation problem in which flight trajectories minimise climate effects while maintaining operational and economic efficiency. Operational constraints such as meteorological hazards, regulatory requirements, airspace and airport capacity need to be incorporated to ensure real-world applicability. This work provides a comprehensive overview of the project, describing new developments and major challenges on implementation pathways and summarizes the key findings.</p&gt; <p>D-KULT developed an end-to-end information chain integrating aviation weather forecasting, flight planning, air traffic control, and climate benefit assessment to enable eco-efficient flight routing for testing purposes. Achieving this complex operational and environmental objective required close collaboration across multiple disciplines and substantial upgrades to the majority of participating components. Novel aviation weather products were generated that estimate the climate sensitivity of emissions under prevailing meteorological conditions. Flight planning tools have been extended to take this information into account in addition to the standard data in the flight planning optimization algorithms. In this way, flight planning tools can calculate emissions and corresponding climate effects along flights, both as part of strategic (pre-departure) and tactical (pre-take-off and in-flight) eco-efficient flight optimisation. Developments within D-KULT were tested through a large-scale national contrail avoidance flight trial campaign, including enhanced satellite-based contrail detection methods and assessment and workflow implications in a high-fidelity simulator environment.</p&gt; <p>Results demonstrate substantial progress toward operational climate-optimised aviation but also highlight remaining challenges, including uncertainties in weather forecast and non-CO<sub>2</sub&gt; climate effects, automation needs along the workflow and increased controller workload in dense airspaces. A key requirement for operational implementation is transparent information of prediction uncertainties, enabling informed decision-making when rerouting for climate benefit. These remaining research of achievable climate benefits. Further evaluation focused on operational integration, examining air traffic control procedures, and development needs form the basis for the planned successor programme to D-KULT.
            </content>
            <author>
                <name>Copernicus Electronic Production Support Office</name>
            </author>
            <published>2026-02-17T01:44:29+01:00</published>
            <updated>2026-02-17T01:44:29+01:00</updated>
        </entry>
        <entry>
            <id>https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-1-1-2026</id>
            <title type="html">Editorial: A new sustainable aviation open-access journal
            </title>
            <link href="https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-1-1-2026"/>
            <summary type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Editorial: A new sustainable aviation open-access journal&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Volker Grewe, Simon Blakey, Florian Linke, Sigrun Matthes, Jan Middel, Radu Mirea, Ayce Celikel, David Raper, Feijia Yin, and Xin Zhao&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys., 1, 1, https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-1-1-2026, 2026&lt;br&gt;
                The Journal of Environmentally Compatible Air Transport System (JECATS) is a not-for-profit international scientific journal dedicated to aspects of the air transport system with a focus on the environmental implications. JECATS combines areas of aerospace engineering, fuels, environmental analysis, climate change, economics, aviation climate mitigation, circularity and policy analysis. It includes aviation transport-related aspects and environmental effects from local to global scales.
            </summary>
            <content type="html">
                &lt;b&gt;Editorial: A new sustainable aviation open-access journal&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;
                Volker Grewe, Simon Blakey, Florian Linke, Sigrun Matthes, Jan Middel, Radu Mirea, Ayce Celikel, David Raper, Feijia Yin, and Xin Zhao&lt;br&gt;
                    J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys., 1, 1, https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-1-1-2026, 2026&lt;br&gt;
                
            </content>
            <author>
                <name>Copernicus Electronic Production Support Office</name>
            </author>
            <published>2026-01-22T01:44:29+01:00</published>
            <updated>2026-01-22T01:44:29+01:00</updated>
        </entry>
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