Hawaiian Airlines says it will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 670,000 kilograms a year on its three times weekly Brisbane-Honolulu flights through the use of more efficient operations on the ground and in the air.
Tuesday’s flight HA443, operated by Airbus A330-200 N378HA, was the first time Hawaiian had flown the route utilising seven environmental best practice measures outlined by the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE).
The ASPIRE group brings together Australia’s Airservices, Airways New Zealand, the US Federal Aviation Administration, Japan Air Navigation Services (JANS), the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and AeroThai in partnership to develop ideas that improve environmental standards and operational procedures in an effort to reduce fuel burn and carbon dioxide emissions.
It advocates a number of practices to improve the efficiency of flight covering ground taxiing, route optimisation and more collaborative decision making between air navigation service providers, airport operations, ground handling services, aircraft operators and other stakeholders.
Tuesday’s flight featured numerous taxiing, in-flight and landing procedures that were estimated to have saved about 680 kilograms of fuel thanks to the support of Airservices, Brisbane Airport and others, Hawaiian said.
These included User Preferred Routes, which enables airlines to customise more efficient flight paths; Dynamic Airborne Reroute Procedures, where airlines are able to change flight paths en route factoring in updated weather information; and Optimised Descent Profile, which helps cut down changes in engine thrust as the aircraft comes in to land.
And Thursday’s reciprocal HA444, scheduled to depart Brisbane at 2145, would also be flown under ASPIRE measures.
Brisbane-Honolulu is Hawaiian’s second route operated under ASPIRE principles, following Auckland-Honolulu which started on April 22.
Hawaiian chief pilot for operations Captain Brian Beres, who along with first officer Jason Akina and international relief officer David Kahoaka was at the controls of flight HA443, said the airline worked closely with Brisbane Airport, Airservices and other regulatory and air traffic management bodies to ensure everything went smoothly.
“In order to really make best use of these efficiency procedures, we have to work together so we are on the same page, we understand what the other needs,” Beres told Australian Aviation in an interview on Wednesday.
“Prior to our ASPIRE flight yesterday we had a number of calls with all of the various parties that are involved from regulatory to air traffic management and the airline obviously to make sure that we are all coordinated in these procedures that we were going to demonstrate on these two flights.
“So yes, there is a high degree of coordination.
“It also gives the ability I think as a group to lobby for change and being proactive in the direction of reducing our carbon emissions and fuel burn, the mission being to lessen the impact of aviation on the environment.”
Brisbane Airport general manager of operations Stephen Goodwin said the airport and its ground handler provided assistance through ensuring ground power units and pre-conditioned air was available for Hawaiian’s two services.
“Brisbane Airport Corporation is proud to support Hawaiian Airlines in showcasing environmental strategies that reduce fuel burn and carbon emissions in aviation operations,” Goodwin said.
Airservices executive general manager of air navigation services Stephen Angus said: “Our role at Airservices is to use efficient air traffic management practices to ensure the success of the ASPIRE flight.”
“This new route is another example of airlines, airports and air navigation agencies working together to reduce aviation emissions globally.”
After a series of demonstration flights in 2008 from Air New Zealand, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and United, there are now daily ASPIRE flights out of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand, according to the ASPIRE website.
