The U.K. will launch a £5 million, 30-month trial to use artificial intelligence to predict and avoid the atmospheric conditions that create persistent aircraft contrails, which scientists say are a major contributor to aviation’s warming impact. The Operation Blue Skies project—backed by the Department for Transport and led by Google alongside NATS, the Met Office and researchers at Cambridge and Imperial—will target the Shanwick Oceanic airspace over the eastern North Atlantic, with limited altitude adjustments of about 2,000 feet during winter night operations in 2026-27 and 2027-28. Google will combine satellite imagery, flight histories and weather data to forecast contrail hot spots that controllers can help pilots avoid. Early trials suggest a small fuel-burn penalty, typically under 1%, is outweighed by the climate benefit of preventing warming contrails, according to project leads. The effort comes as the U.K. debates airport expansion and as AI’s growing energy footprint raises broader environmental questions; results will be published for scientific review.
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