Travel / news
American Airlines Pauses Contrail-Avoidance Trial as Fuel Prices Spike
The carrier halted its climate-focused contrail trial this spring after jet fuel costs surged, but hopes to resume in fall if prices normalize.
American Airlines paused a contrail-avoidance experiment shortly after it began in the spring, when volatile jet fuel prices made the extra fuel burn from rerouting unaffordable. The trial was designed to reduce the formation of planet-warming contrails, but avoiding the atmospheric conditions that create them can require burning more fuel.
The airline said it did not want to give pilots and dispatchers conflicting instructions: conserve fuel because of price spikes, while also potentially burning extra fuel to avoid contrail-forming conditions. Fuel prices have a direct impact on operational decisions.
American spokesman Chris D'Aloia said the carrier hopes to resume the trial this fall, with the goal for its 2026 program to gather a large enough sample to accurately measure the additional fuel burn. He added that resuming depends on fuel prices normalizing.
The effort is part of a broader industry push to reduce aviation's climate impact. American conducted its first contrail trial in 2023 and expanded the work in 2025.