Imperial College London is participating in ZENITIA (Zero-Emission Next-Gen Innovation and Technology Integration for Aviation), a new European consortium dedicated to developing climate-smart air traffic management (ATM) strategies for sustainable aviation. The initiative officially launched on 7 October 2026.
The consortium unites leading academic institutions and industry partners to create new tools and evidence aimed at helping the aviation sector reduce emissions and achieve net-zero goals. Over the next two years, ZENITIA will investigate how emerging aircraft technologies, alternative fuels, and advanced climate modelling can be integrated to support more sustainable ATM. The project is funded by the Horizon Europe SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking, the Single European Sky ATM Research programme.
Dr Sebastian Eastham, Associate Professor in Sustainable Aviation at Imperial's Department of Aeronautics and the Brahmal Vasudevan Institute for Sustainable Aviation, is leading Imperial's involvement. He stated, “We recognised that achieving a truly sustainable aviation sector is a problem which requires both evolutionary and revolutionary change, meaning that all stakeholders’ perspectives need to be integrated at design time. ZENITIA connects experts across sectors in aviation operations, ATM, sustainable technology, and academic research to do exactly that – and hopefully unlock novel options for reductions in aviation’s environmental footprint.”
Dr Eastham and his team will develop sophisticated computational models of the global atmosphere to quantify the environmental impacts of aviation across European skies. These models will aid in regional and global assessments of aviation's effects on climate and air quality, including non-carbon dioxide emissions such as contrails and nitrogen oxides. Furthermore, Dr Eastham will spearhead efforts to translate these findings into practical tools for decision-makers, informing environmentally optimised flight trajectories and supporting strategic decisions on future aircraft technologies and sustainable fuels within an ATM context.
ZENITIA's approach moves beyond the historical reliance on incremental improvements by assessing both evolutionary technologies (e.g., more efficient aircraft) and revolutionary ones that could fundamentally alter aircraft design and operation. It will also explore the integration of future mixed fleets of conventional and next-generation aircraft and develop tools directly linking ATM decisions to climate and air quality outcomes. The project will assess a wider range of environmental impacts, including regional European and global air quality, and the trade-offs between environmental performance and operational efficiency.
Coordinated by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, the ZENITIA consortium comprises nine partners from academia and industry, including Boeing Deutschland GmbH, Boeing Aerospace Spain, Estuaire SAS, Future Needs Management Consulting Ltd., Imperial College London, the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (IFATCA), TU Delft, and the University of Cambridge. The project is funded by the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking under the European Union's Horizon Europe programme.
