Cathay Pacific and Google partner on AI contrail avoidance for ultra-long-haul flights
Cathay Pacific has flown more than 80 contrail-avoidance routes in a trial with Google that began in late 2025, adjusting cruise altitude to steer clear of the thin bands of humid air where aircraft exhaust freezes into clouds that trap heat.
Google puts the result at roughly a 40% reduction in the warming impact of the contrails those flights would otherwise have made, based on its own satellite analysis.
The trial targeted ultra-long-haul services, meaning flights of more than 16 hours, and it is the first time the technique has been tested at that duration.
One corridor did most of the work: the Hong Kong to Singapore route, where persistent contrails form often, accounted for more than half the estimated reduction.
Predictions reached the flight deck through Cathay’s electronic flight folder over in-flight Wi-Fi, which is the unglamorous part that makes the rest of it operational.
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