Boeing and Etihad Airways will expand a collaboration designed to allow both to meet environmental goals.

Centred on the Etihad 787 Dreamliner fleet, the new memorandum of understanding furthers a mutual commitment – initially set through a 2019 sustainability partnership – to develop sustainable flight operations across the global network.

The new agreement will focus on enhancing the efficiency of navigation and flight operations, airframe technologies and sustainable practices to reduce fuel use and emissions.

In addition, company leaders said their partnership provides an opportunity to validate concepts that could be scaled up to benefit the broader aviation industry.

“Sustainability is a core principle at Etihad, and we believe our continued collaboration with Boeing will drive further innovation in this critical area for the airline and our industry,” said Tony Douglas, group chief executive of Etihad Aviation Group.

“With the highly efficient 787 Dreamliner in our fleet, Etihad has considerably reduced its overall carbon emissions, and our expanded sustainability alliance with Boeing will drive further innovations.”

Etihad is the largest 787 operator in the Middle East.

The agreement also includes collaboration to develop tools for flight planning, arrival and departure procedures, en-route flight optimisation and community noise reduction.

“Partnership is critically important to decarbonize our industry, and we are honoured to work side-by-side with Etihad to advance sustainable aviation,” said Stan Deal, Boeing Commercial Airplanes president.

“Our flight test programs, and other joint efforts have clearly demonstrated the value of collaboration by our companies and our industry.”