A new UK government project will investigate how artificial intelligence could be used to reduce the production of contrails.
Operation Blue Skies brings together Google, Contrails.org, the Met Office, National Air Traffic Services (NATS), and academics at the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London. Contrails, also known as vapour trails, can spread and produce clouds that trap hot air, exacerbating climate change.
The team will study the Shanwick Oceanic airspace in the Atlantic, a busy corridor that accounts for 5% of aviation emissions. Over 30 months, researchers will develop AI models to predict where contrails might form, then divert planes from those areas.
Backed by £2.65 million in UK government funding, and a further £1.4 million from Google, diversions will typically involve planes changing altitude by 2,000 feet. Most of the test periods will take place at night or over the winter months when traffic levels are lower. Around 10,000 flights will pass through the Shanwick Oceanic airspace during the trial period.
Keir Mather, UK Government Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Freight, said:
We’re partnering with Google to back British experts and innovators to find practical ways to make flying cleaner. This is a world-first, and it’s British ingenuity leading the way. By testing small tweaks to flight paths over the Atlantic, we can cut the vapour trails left behind by planes.
The programme will also examine whether the additional fuel burn needed for an aircraft to change altitude outweighs the carbon reduction benefits of contrail reduction.
Join our Sustainability Summit at World Aviation Festival 2026.
For more like this, see:
