Mon 6 Jan 2014 – Seven new ‘green aviation routes’ have been introduced between New Zealand and airports in the United States and Singapore under the ASPIRE – Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions – programme. ASPIRE-Daily City Pairs are daily routes certified by IATA as using best practice procedures to reduce environmental impact. The new routes developed by air navigation service provider Airways New Zealand are Auckland-Singapore return; Christchurch-Singapore return; Los Angeles-Auckland return; and San Francisco-Auckland. The ANSP is now assisting Airports Fiji to join ASPIRE, with the aim of decreasing air traffic’s environmental footprint in the South Pacific.
Other ASPIRE partners include Airservices Australia, the US FAA, Japan Civil Aviation Bureau, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and AeroThai.
The additional city-pairs were the outcome from many months of development work between Airways New Zealand and its ASPIRE partners FAA, Airservices Australia and CAAS, along with Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines, reported Airways CEO Ed Sims.
Airways held one ASPIRE-Daily City Pair, Auckland-San Francisco, prior to the IATA validation, bringing the total to eight since the programme was launched in early 2008. A series of demonstration flights – linking New Zealand, Australia and the United States – were undertaken to gather extensive data and carry out performance modelling before the Auckland-San Francisco ASPIRE-Daily City Pair was launched in February 2011 (see article).
IATA awards a ranking of between three and five stars to each city-pair, indicating the level of environmental benefits provided by the route. Five of the seven new city-pairs have a four-star rating with the two Singapore routes currently achieving a three-star rating.
Airways is to host the annual ASPIRE conference in Queenstown, New Zealand in April.