Air New Zealand, Garuda, Qantas and Singapore Airlines Begin UPR Trials on 38 Routes

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(15/08/24)
 Earlier this month, the Air Navigation Service
Providers (ANSP) from Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and
Singapore and their respective national flag carriers Qantas,
Garuda, Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines, launched user-preferred
routing (UPR) trials on 38 different scheduled routes between
cities in Australia and New Zealand as well as between cities in Indonesia
and Singapore.

The
trials will last for three months after which the parties will
review the results and, subject to operators’ feedback,
will look to operationalise the trial and expand UPR to
include more cities and airlines.

“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,” said Dr Xie Xingquan, IATA’s
Regional Vice President, North Asia and Asia Pacific (ad
interim). “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 countries
and airlines.”

Singapore Airlines A350-900 reg: 9V-SMH. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com

Under UPR, the sky is an
open canvas, pilots have the flexibility to choose the most
efficient and direct routes to their destinations without having to stick to predefined highways in the sky.

UPR allows for
better use of airspace and helps to cut flight times and carbon
emissions. As an example, airlines can potentially save up to
1,700kg of fuel for a flight between Singapore and Melbourne and
over 1,960 tonnes of carbon emissions a year for that route for
a year of daily flights.

The UPR trial is a key initiative
of the South-East Asia – Oceania Implementation of Free Route
Operations (FRTO) Project agreement signed between the ANSP of
Indonesia, New Zealand and Singapore, Civil Air Navigation
Services Organization (CANSO), and International Air Transport Association (IATA), at the sidelines of the International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Air Navigation World
Conference in Singapore in October 2023. Airservices Australia has
since joined the collaboration agreement and is participating
in the UPR trial.

“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,” said Rob Sharp, Airservices Australia Interim CEO. “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.”

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