Scandinavian Airlines System has come up with a new aircraft landing technique that will reduce fuel consumption and levels of CO2 released into the atmosphere.

The new method involves glide landing that would save about 100kg of fuel in a twin-engined jet, which is equivalent of about 300kg of carbon dioxide, AFP reports.

An aircraft’s engines will be put into neutral as it comes into land, letting the plane glide in automatic following a route mapped out by satellite followed by pilot intervention just before it lands.

Conventionally, pilots manually control the craft as it descends in stages over a large area, a technique that burns a huge amount of fuel.

If approved by civil aviation authorities, the glide landing method will be implemented on all airlines run by the Scandinavian group.

At present, the technique has been tested in a simulator and SAS will try it out in a Boeing 737 in northern Norway.