An analysis of FAA and industry data argues that the 'Greener Skies' flight procedure changes at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport provided negligible environmental benefits, saving only about 1.6 million gallons of fuel annually — less than one-third of one percent of the airport's total fuel consumption. Meanwhile, actual fuel use at Sea-Tac grew by hundreds of millions of gallons per year due to increased flight operations, completely overshadowing the claimed savings. The article contends that the program was essentially a public relations campaign that shifted noise burdens onto surrounding neighborhoods without delivering meaningful environmental improvements.Open full document
Notes
This article from Aviation Impact Reform analyzes fuel consumption data from the 2016 Sea-Tac Fuel Facilities LLC Annual Report and the 2012 Greener Skies Environmental Assessment to argue that the projected fuel savings from the Greener Skies/NextGen RNAV/RNP changes are negligible. The projected annual savings of 1.6 million gallons represents less than one-third of one percent of total fuel sold at Sea-Tac, while actual fuel consumption grew by billions of gallons year-over-year. The author concludes that the Greener Skies program was essentially a propaganda campaign with no meaningful environmental benefit.