Daily Routes
Background
The ASPIRE (Asia Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions) partnership was formed in 2008; a partnership between Airways New Zealand, the Federal Aviation Administration and Airservices Australia. Membership has since extended to include CAAS (Singapore) and JCAB (Japan). Its pre-eminence in collaborative air traffic management and environmental stewardship has been globally acknowledged.
Following a series of demonstration flights in 2008 - linking NZ, Australia and the US – extensive data gathering and performance modelling has occurred to allow the success of these 'one-off' test flights to be repeated on a daily basis for aircraft flying across Asia and the Pacific.
Once implemented, the AKL-SFO ASPIRE Daily route will become one of a network of 'green routes' throughout the Asia Pacific region.
Figure: Best practices for ASPIRE Daily routes
Daily City Pairs
Following a series of ASPIRE demonstration flights in 2008 - linking NZ, Australia and the US – extensive data gathering and performance modelling has occurred to allow the success of these 'one-off' test flights to be repeated on a daily basis for aircraft flying across Asia and the Pacific.
The first ASPIRE Daily City Pair was launched on February 21, 2011 between Auckland and San Francisco. Additional routes will come on line regularly, with several routes across the Eastern and Western part of the Asia Pacific region already active or planned.
What are ASPIRE Daily City Pairs?
ASPIRE Daily City Pair flights operate under optimal flight plan conditions, utilising:
- User preferred Routes (UPRs)
- Dynamic Airborne Re-routing Procedures (DARPs)
- 30/30 in the Oceanic environment
- Time-Based Arrivals Management
- Arrivals Optimisation
- Departure Optimisation, and
- Surface Movement Optimisation.
ASPIRE Daily City Pairs are certified with a star rating system based on the number of best-practice procedures available – e.g. using three best practice options will gain a three star rating; with a current maximum of five. Airlines track and report usage of their nominated ASPIRE Daily best practices through the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Available Best Practices |
Star Rating |
|
3 |
3 |
 |
4 - 6 |
4 |
 |
7 |
5 |
 |
Table: Best practice Daily City Pair star ratings
IATA has endorsed the ASPIRE Daily best practices, city pair nominations and star ratings - providing critical value for ANSPs and the airline industry.
ASPIRE Daily City Pairs ultimately deliver 'gate to gate' environmental best practice to airlines operating throughout the Asia-Pacific region. They are also an endorsement for travellers and communities that the industry is collectively committed to implementing world's best practice in air traffic management and environmental stewardship.
"Of critical importance now is to get the attention of airline passengers. They see governments imposing environmental taxes on long-haul flight, yet what they'd prefer to be seeing is an industry taking active steps to reduce its environmental impact. That's ASPIRE: a network of partners across the world who are collectively committed to implementing world's best practice in air traffic management and environmental stewardship – every single day."
Doug Scott, Chairman of the ASPIRE Partnership
ASPIRE Daily is about route utilisation more than it is about fuel and emissions savings. Both will result – but our focus is on how much can be saved by airlines globally when they utilise concepts and technologies in flight efficiency in all phases of commercial flight.
The aviation sector has committed to taking a 'whole-of-industry' approach, through ICAO, to reduce emissions by 2% per annum until 2050. Whilst technology will certainly aid this goal, ANSPs must continue to be proactive to ensure infrastructure, technology and ATM procedures complement airborne capability.
The aviation industry has gone beyond Government proposals to introduce 'travel taxes' taking proactive measures to reduce the environmental footprint of flight. ASPIRE Daily is a working example of what can be achieved through intercontinental, inter-agency, airline and ANSP cooperation. Built on solid metrics, ASPIRE Daily is the first in a series of future improvements that will deliver significant environmental outcomes in one of the world's fastest growing aviation markets.