AI is set to take a flying leap in reducing the climate impact of aircraft. A £5m UK trial will test whether artificial intelligence can predict where warming contrails are likely to form and get planes to avoid those areas.

The project, called Operation Blue Skies, involves Google, the UK government, the Met Office, air traffic control provider NATS, and academic researchers. It targets the Shanwick Oceanic airspace in the eastern half of the North Atlantic corridor, which accounts for around 5% of global contrail warming.

Contrails are made when hot exhaust from aircraft engines meets cold high-altitude air, creating ice crystals that can persist and spread under certain conditions, forming clouds. Scientists estimate contrails are responsible for about a third of aviation’s climate-warming impact, though the precise figure remains uncertain.

The trial aims to use satellite images and flight data to identify where planes have previously produced contrails, then combine this with weather patterns to forecast where new contrails might occur. Air traffic controllers will direct pilots to avoid these areas by changing their altitude by around 2,000ft—something that already happens routinely.