Operation Blue Skies is the world's first oceanic airspace-scale trial designed to reduce the climate impact of aviation contrails through AI-driven flight path adjustments across North Atlantic airspace. Backed by the UK Government and a consortium of leading institutions, the programme represents a landmark step in aviation decarbonization.
Operation Blue Skies is a £5 million, 30-month programme, partly funded by £2.65 million from the UK Government's Department for Transport. A UK-based consortium comprising Google, the UK Department for Transport, the Met Office, NATS, Contrails.org, Imperial College London, and the University of Cambridge launched the initiative to evaluate the operational feasibility and environmental benefits of adjusting commercial flight altitudes to avoid the atmospheric conditions that contribute to the formation of persistent, warming contrails.
The Shanwick oceanic airspace — the eastern half of the North Atlantic corridor, controlled by NATS — accounts for approximately 5% of global contrail warming. A significant fraction of this warming is concentrated between November and February. The Operation Blue Skies North Atlantic trial is specifically designed to target this high-impact winter window, deploying AI models to identify where and when altitude interventions offer the greatest potential to reduce contrail-related climate impact.
The trials focus on minor altitude adjustments within standard flight operations, coordinated through established Air Traffic Control (ATC) communication channels. Trial manoeuvres will take place across two winter testing windows — 2026–2027 and 2027–2028 — with approximately 20 to 40 test days per winter, conducted during periods of lower air traffic.
Operation Blue Skies sits alongside major UK Government investments in innovative aviation decarbonisation projects, including £219 million allocated to boost homegrown green fuel production — cutting emissions from flying while supporting economic growth and the creation of green jobs.
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