Airservices Australia is collaborating with air navigation service providers (ANSPs) and airline operators from Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Singapore to trial an initiative that will allow pilots on select flights to choose their own routes between destinations to take advantage of prevailing winds to shorten travel times, save fuel and reduce carbon emissions.

In a significant development for cross-border collaboration, the four ANSPs, as well as national flag carriers Qantas, Air New Zealand, Garuda and Singapore Airlines have partnered to trial user-preferred routing (UPR) on 38 different scheduled routes between Australian/New Zealand and Indonesian/Singaporean airspace.

UPR, under which airlines can specify their own flight path based on weather conditions, is already used in Australian-managed airspace over the Pacific and Indian oceans and across large areas of upper airspace across Australia. Until now, its use on international routes has been limited due to the complexity of coordinating routes across international airspace boundaries and with airspace managed by different ANSPs.

With the first flights participating in the trial taking off this week, user-preferred routing is estimated to save around 100kg of fuel for a flight between Denpasar and Melbourne, or 26 tonnes over the course of a year when flying the route five times per week – equivalent to more than 82 tonnes of carbon emissions annually for that route alone.

Airservices Australia Interim CEO Rob Sharp said the collaboration was an extension of existing bilateral relationships between ANSPs in the region and their respective partnerships with their national flag-carriers.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Dr Xie Xingquan, the International Air Transport Association’s Regional Vice President, North Asia and Asia Pacific (ad interim) said: “We congratulate Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Singapore on their leadership to get this multilateral trial underway. It is an important initiative welcomed by the industry.

“The incremental operational improvements for individual flights will generate significant cumulative benefits considering the number of flights and city pairs involved. The trial is a good starting point, and we look forward to having it expand beyond the initial four states and airlines.”

Qantas Group Chief Risk Officer Andrew Monaghan welcomed the trial.

“User Preferred Routings will allow us to tailor individual flight routes and simplify flight planning processes while delivering the same level of safety,” Mr Monaghan said.

“Giving airlines the chance to tailor routes in this way will also help reduce fuel use and emissions by delivering shorter flight times.”

President Director of AirNav Indonesia Polana B. Pramesti said: “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 4 international airlines, are able to collaborate and work together on the Cross Boundary UPR program.”

Mrs Polana stated that this UPR program is proof of AirNav Indonesia, Airservices Australia, Airways New Zealand and Civil Aviation Authority Singapore’s commitment to improving the efficiency, safety, and convenience of flight navigation, as well as environmentally friendly flights in the Asia Pacific region.

“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,” Mrs Polana said.

Airways New Zealand Chief Executive James Young said the organisation was proud to already offer its customers UPRs within New Zealand administered airspace, however its benefits had been limited to its airspace boundaries.

“We are excited to now be working with our Asia-Pacific partners through the Free Route Operations program to ensure we can deliver environmentally sustainable solutions across the region,” Mr Young said.

About Airservices

Airservices Australia is the Federal Government-owned organisation responsible for the safety of 11 per cent of the world’s airspace and the provision of aviation rescue fire fighting services at Australia’s busiest airports. We work closely with our customers and industry to support the long-term growth of the aviation industry and are investing in technologies to position Australia at the forefront of innovation in the global aviation industry.