Pilots across the Australasian region are set to trial a new initiative from Airservices Australia in collaboration with air navigation service providers (ANSPs) that could shorten travel times, save fuel and reduce carbon emissions from the sector.
Australia, Indonesia, Singapore and New Zealand are set to take part in a trial of user-preferred routing on 38 different scheduled routes between Australian/New Zealand and Singaporean/Indonesian airspace.
National flag carriers Qantas, Air New Zealand, Garuda and Singapore Airlines have partnered for the trial.
User-preferred routing (UPR) is estimated to save around 100kg of fuel for a flight between Denpasar and Melbourne by taking advantage of prevailing winds. For a plane travelling the Denpasar/Melbourne route five times a week for a year, that’s a saving of 26 tonnes of fuel and 82 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.
Airservices Australia interim CEO Rob Sharp says the collaboration has been made with the global aviation sector’s net-zero 2050 goal in mind.
“Working with airlines to enable them to reduce emissions is central to our environment and sustainability strategy, aligned to the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Long-Term Aspirational Goal for the global aviation sector to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” Sharp says.
“As an industry we need to develop and implement innovative practices to ensure we have an efficient and sustainable aviation sector. By working together, we can facilitate more efficient flight paths that reduce fuel usage and emissions and optimise load efficiency.
“Subject to operator feedback, we will look to operationalise the trial and expand UPR to include more city pairs and airlines.”
UPR is already used in Australian-managed airspace over the Pacific and Indian oceans and across large areas of upper airspace across Australia.
The use of UPR in international airspace has, traditionally, been complex due to the difficulty coordinating routes across international airspace boundaries.
President Director of AirNav Indonesia Polana B. Pramesti says a successful trial could see the imitative rolled out further across the Asia-Pacific and Oceania regions.
“I am proud that AirNav Indonesia can be one of the initiators of this historic moment, where air navigation service providers in four countries, along with four international airlines, are able to collaborate and work together on the Cross Boundary UPR program,” she says.
“Hopefully, the trial can be successful and expand in the future to provide many benefits for all airlines flying in the airspace of the Asia-Pacific and Oceania region.”
Airservices Australia is a federal government-owned organisation responsible for the safety of 11 per cent of the world’s airspace.
Should the trial be successful it could have wide-reaching benefits across both freight and passenger aviation.
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