Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has approved the electronic flight folder (EFF) for IndiGo that will help the airline reduce carbon emissions by around 800 tonnesannually, the civil aviation regulator said in a statement on Friday.
The EFF represents a pivotal shift away from traditional paper-based processes in flight planning and documentation. It consists of flight plans, weather reports, airport charts among others which help pilots plan their operations. It contains near real-time data that is commonly used and integrated within electronic flight bags (EFB) via an iPad or tablet device.
IndiGo has been using EFBs since 2015 becoming first airline in the region to introduce it. This led to reduction of 25 kilograms of paper on Airbus fleet and replacing paper charts and manuals with iPads.
One of the benefits of EFF is its substantial contribution to improve the carbon footprint, DGCA said. The initiative will lead to a saving of around 800 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually equivalent to saving 2,200 trees every year, it added.