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Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – There is nothing better than taking nature as a source of inspiration, and in the aerospace industry, scientists and developers are looking to aerodynamics undisputedly: birds.

By seeing flocks of some migratory bird species in the sky, the formations in which the birds fly have become a source of inspiration for researchers at Airbus UpNext, a demonstration platform for future flights of the aircraft manufacturer, Airbus.

A century ago, ornithologists began to explain the theory that birds increase their flight efficiency, by flying in flocks in formations close to each other, taking advantage of the changing airflow in the wings of each bird in the flock.

With this in mind, the “Airbus fello’fly” flight project will involve flying two large commercial aircraft in a “V” position, seeking to imitate the way birds fly in order to increase their efficiency and save energy.

Building on the test flights conducted by both the Airbus ‘A380’ Mega Jet and the ‘A350-900’ widebody aircraft, the ‘fello’fly’ project hopes to demonstrate and measure aerodynamic efficiencies while developing in-flight operating procedures.

Initial flight tests began with two A350s last March. The program will be expanded next year to include the participation of the French company “Bee” and Scandinavian Airlines, as well as air traffic control and air navigation service providers from France, the United Kingdom, and Europe.

Dr. Sandra Burr Schaeffer, Executive Director of the “Airbus UpNext” platform, explained in an interview with CNN that the upcoming flight tests using two “A350” aircraft could achieve fuel savings of between 5% and 10%, which is a huge number.

Although it might seem easy to just watch a flock of birds to see their energy-saving technique, it is more difficult than imaginable.

Dr. Charles Bishop, from the School of Natural Sciences, Bangor University in Wales, said that birds have been flying in this way for millions of years, but the problem lies in the inability of scientists to conduct experiments to understand this method.

Nonetheless, Bishop cited a landmark paper published in 2001 in the international weekly “Nature”, study author and researcher Henry Weimmerskirche with his team gaining access to pelicans, known in the avian community to be the best at forming a regular flock.

Technically speaking, this study is the only one to show direct evidence of an energy-saving advantage rather than theories of aerodynamics, Bishop said.

Weimerskirche was able to place heart rate monitors on birds. According to Bishop, late-back pelicans seem to save their energy.

The flow of air over the surfaces of the birds’ wings generates air swirls, and if a bird flies directly behind the front bird in the middle, the direct air direction for it from these vortices will be downward, and this will increase the resistance force on the back bird and thus it will have to generate additional energy to overcome it.

But if the bird flies at a certain distance from the right or the left of each wing, the direction of the air coming on it will be due to the swirls upward, and it leads to a decrease in that resistance, and thus it will save the energy expended to fly and increase the flight range of the bird before feeling exhausted.

The back bird must move its wings against the bird in front of it in order to benefit from the direction of the whirlpools.

Like the pelicans, two A350s will make a long-haul flight to demonstrate that the concept of “wake-energy recovery” is achievable.

Burr Scheffer said they need to direct the pilots in order to properly position the two planes.

Autopilot systems will be required to maintain the correct position of the two aircraft, reduce the burden on pilots and ensure a comfortable flight for passengers by avoiding turbulence.

Necessary measures will be tested to enable the two aircraft to coordinate their locations near each other.

And Port Scheffer indicated that they need to make sure that the aircraft can fly close to each other, stressing, “We will never compromise on safety.”

Once the concept of wake energy recovery has been demonstrated, operational considerations have yet to be resolved.

According to Port Schaeffer, air traffic service providers and government aviation agencies will need to be persuaded to change regulations to allow aircraft to fly closer to each other than is currently permitted.

Flight planning procedures for aircraft will have to be developed in order to match their paths with those of other aircraft, along with the locations and altitudes required to initiate this type of flight.