On 5 August 2024, the Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) from Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Singapore and the national flag carriers Qantas, Air New Zealand, Garuda and Singapore Airlines launched user-preferred routing (UPR) trials on 38 different scheduled routes between cities in Australia/New Zealand and Indonesia/Singapore. The trials will last three months after which the parties will review the results. Subject to operators’ feedback, the parties will look to operationalise the trial and expand UPR to include more cities and airlines.
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. This will allow better use of airspace and help cut flight time and carbon emissions. As an example, airlines can potentially save up to 1700kg of fuel for a flight between Singapore and Melbourne and over 1960 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 ANSPs of Indonesia, New Zealand and Singapore, Civil Air Navigation Services Organization (CANSO), and the 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.
Mr. Han Kok Juan, Director-General of CAAS said, “CAAS is happy to work with Airservices Australia, AirNav Indonesia and Airways New Zealand on this transformative UPR trial. The collaboration is a good example of how air navigation service providers, with service to airspace users as a shared goal, can work together to make more efficient use of the airspace amongst us, to reduce carbon emissions and flight time.”
Mr Rob Sharp, Airservices Australia Interim CEO said, “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. 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.”
Mrs Polana B. Pramesti, President Director of AirNav Indonesia 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. 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.”
Mr James Young, Chief Executive of Airways New Zealand said: “Airways New Zealand is proud to already offer our customers User Preferred Routes (UPRs) within New Zealand administered airspace, however, the benefits experienced through the use of UPRs have been limited to our airspace boundaries. We are excited to now be working with our Asia-Pacific partners through the Free Route Trajectory Operations program to ensure we can deliver environmentally sustainable solutions across the region.”
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 countries and airlines.”
