The AEON Consortium is proud to announce that at the end of May 2022 was invited as a member of the Sustainable Taxiing Task Force (STX TF) of EUROCONTROL. The main objective of the TF is to deliver recommendations for procedure standardisation in order to remove (to the extent possible) one of the main barriers that have prevented operational deployment to date. The STX Taskforce reports to the C-level ANSPs and Airport Operators through the Network Directors of operations working arrangement. It sees the involvement of EASA, which ensures that the recommendations of the STX TF will be directly taken up by the European Regulator. Moreover, the task force is supported by IATA-Europe, ICAO-Europe, CANSO and Co-chaired by Eurocontrol and ACI-Europe.
At the end of June, the Task Force organised its first workshop that focused on the status of Wheel Tug. A twin of electric motors installed on the nose landing gear and powered by the Auxiliary Power Unity (APU) that allows aircraft to taxi without engines or towing vehicles. The AEON concept of operations integrates the use of WheelTug with single-engine taxiing and towing vehicles to mitigate drawbacks and maximise the benefits associated with the use of e-taxi systems.
