Meet Steve, Manager, Continuous Improvement, Air Canada, recently featured in Toronto Pearson International Airport's Facebook Series #PeopleofPearson#PearsonPOV

One of my main responsibilities is to bring all the people across Air Canada that work on fuel efficiency projects together. Air Canada has made tremendous strides in fuel efficiency – 40 per cent since 1990 – but we can do better and even small savings on every flight can translate into significant additional benefits for the environment.

We introduced a project here at Toronto Pearson called the Rapid Deployment System, that allows us to reduce the time to connect an aircraft to ground power on arrival from two minutes to thirty seconds. Saving ninety seconds doesn’t sound like much, but the cumulative effect is huge. Imagine if we could do that with all our flights around the world.

Another project I was proud to collaborate on was the aircraft clean-up program. There was this idea floating around that we had too much weight in consumables on the aircraft, like toilet paper, magazines and bottles of water. We ended up going through sixteen aircraft by hand, using scales and plastic bags to see what gets packed into every nook and cranny in the cabin. We found that there was a significant amount of weight, up to 300 kilos in some cases. Reducing the weight of an aircraft means that it uses less fuel, creating efficiencies that benefit the environment. For me, being able to get a little dirty and have carte blanche to root through an aircraft was a highlight. This project brought people together from across the organization. It was a fun activity and generated many good ideas.

I’ve been here for ten years and I work with great people. Every day is interesting and exciting, and we’re always trying to do better. We’re on track to achieve our targets for this year, but I‘m already excited about what my projects might be for next year.

—Steve, Manager, Continuous Improvement – Fuel and Blocks, Air Canada
#PeopleofPearson#PearsonPOVToronto Pearson International Airport's Facebook Series