Southwest Airlines has deployed new fuel efficient landing techniques at 11 US airports, in a bid to cut carbon and cost.
The new landing technique uses pre-designed approaches calculated using Global Positioning Systems (GPS) that are known as Required Navigation Performance (RNP) to ensure the most efficient use of airspace.
Southwest has introduced the procedures at Birmingham, Boise, Los Angeles, Chicago Midway, Oakland, Oklahoma City, West Palm Beach, Raleigh-Durham, San Jose airports, Amarillo and Corpus Christi airports.
The low cost airline has reported it expects to save $16million a year from the adoption of RNP.
"RNP sets the stage for Southwest to continue doing its part to conserve fuel, improve safety, and reduce carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, while simultaneously taking advantage of the high-performance characteristics that exist in an airline's fleet," said Captain Jeff Martin, vice president of Southwest's Operations Coordination Center. "The efficiencies RNP introduces help Southwest be a good neighbour while also maintaining our low fares.