Design of a zero emission aircraft towing system

Abstract

Even though aircraft have become less pollutant over the years, the increase in air traffic results in a growing production of emissions in the aviation industry. In other words, the annual decrease in pollution due to more fuel efficient aircraft, cannot compete with the increase of pollution caused by air traffic growth. Unlike the aviation sector, most sectors can replace fossil fuels with alternate energy sources, but the airline industry is currently confined to kerosene for flight operations. On the ground, electric taxiing is an alternative to conventional taxiing, which would have less impact on the environment and could solve aircraft congestion problems at airports. This research focuses on the feasibility of an airport based electric towing system, which eliminates the need for using fossil fuels while on the ground as much as possible.