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

Dark/Light Mode (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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