Air New Zealand announced that it will retrofit zonal dryers supplied by CTT Systems Inc. across four of its jet fleets - Boeing 777, 767, 737 and Airbus A320 fleets - to reduce fuel burn and consequent emissions.
The electrically-powered dryers is expected to reduce moisture in the insulation between the aircraft outer skin and cabin lining. This is expected to remove around 200 kilograms of water from each aircraft and reduce fuel consumption.
The airline expects to save 500,000 gallons of fuel a year across 42 aircraft, reducing CO2 emissions by 4,700 tons a year.
This month, the airline is also fitting blended winglets on its five Boeing 757-300ER aircraft, which is expected to save 16,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually and save more than NZ$7.5 million in fuel.
Next month, in partnership with Boeing and Rolls-Royce, the airline will conduct a bio-fuel test flight between Auckland and San Francisco to demonstrate the potential for the commercial aviation industry to reduce emissions by millions of tons annually.
In April, the airline launched a voluntary carbon offset program.
Since 2004, the company's fuel saving initiatives have saved 9.7 million gallons of fuel and reduced CO2 emissions by about 91,000 tons.
The airline uses 36 million liters less fuel on an annual basis, delivering a saving of about $43 million per year.
