CAAS and SIA Take Further Steps to Reduce Carbon Footprint of Flights

Regular 'green' flights from Los Angeles to Singapore launched

The Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE) partnership[1] is launching regular ‘green’ flights across Asia and the Pacific. These come under the ‘ASPIRE-Daily City Pair’ programme, which aims to deliver gate-to-gate environmental best practices for pairs of airports throughout the Asia Pacific, one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world. The first daily ‘city pair’ flight was launched between Auckland and San Francisco on 21 February 2011. More of such ‘city pair’ flights will be implemented over the next few months by ASPIRE partners.

On 16 May 2011, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Singapore Airlines (SIA), working together with the United States Federal Aviation Administration and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, are launching the second regular ‘city pair’ - Los Angeles (LAX) to Singapore (SIN) - flight. SIA flight SQ37, which operates non-stop from Los Angeles to Singapore, will employ enhanced gate-to-gate air traffic management operational procedures to reduce fuel burn and carbon emissions in all phases of the flight.

Mr Yap Ong Heng, Director-General of CAAS, said, “CAAS aims to actively contribute to reducing aviation’s environmental footprint where we can. Hence, our participation in the ‘ASPIRE-Daily City Pair’ programme, with the launch of the LAX-SIN ‘city-pair’ with SIA. This will clearly demonstrate how collaboration among ASPIRE partners, airlines and other Air Navigation Service Providers in employing best practices and technologies in air traffic management can achieve significant reductions in fuel consumption and carbon emissions for flights.”

The following air traffic management best practices, which significantly reduce fuel burn and carbon emissions, will be utilised for the LAX-SIN ‘green’ flight:

• ‘User-Preferred Routes’, ‘Dynamic Airborne Reroute Procedures’ and ‘30/30 Reduced Oceanic Separation’, which allow pilots to take full advantage of atmospheric conditions, such as prevailing winds, to reduce separation between aircraft and shorten flight time;

• ‘Time-Based Arrivals Management’ and ‘Arrivals Optimisation’ which allow aircraft to fly with engines set at idle mode in continuous descent from a high altitude during the landing phase of the flight, thus reducing fuel burn.

“We are pleased to be able to implement these flight procedures on a regular basis, and see this as yet another step towards greener skies. We will be monitoring the flight closely to track the fuel and emission savings, but we expect to reduce fuel burn by 2 tonnes and achieve carbon emission savings of around 6.3 tonnes for each Los Angeles-Singapore sector,” says Singapore Airlines’ Senior Vice-President Flight Operations Gerard Yeap.

Each ‘ASPIRE-Daily City Pair’ is star-rated based on the number of best practice procedures employed, with three stars representing the minimum required and five stars indicating that all identified best practices are employed. The LAX-SIN ‘city pair’ is assigned a 4-star rating.

About ASPIRE
ASPIRE (Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions) was established 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).

ASPIRE takes a collaborative approach to air traffic management along key Asian and Pacific routes. Working with government agencies, airlines, regulators and other aviation industry stakeholders, ASPIRE aims to accelerate the development of ‘gate to gate’ operational procedures to reduce fuel burn and emissions for all phases of flight.

In 2008/09, the ASPIRE partners undertook a series of demonstration flights (linking NZ, Australia and the US). Each flight had access to the most advanced air navigation services and aircraft fuel optimisation initiatives currently available. Data gathered from these flights indicated an average 4% fuel savings and up to 15,000kg reduction in CO² emissions.

ASPIRE won the 2009 Jane’s Global ATC Award; acknowledged for its commitment to promote best practises in the provision of ATM; to accelerate the development of new procedures and technologies to reduce aviation’s environmental footprint and to develop shared performance measurements on emissions.

ASPIRE = less fuel burn, less time; in short it’s good for the industry; it’s good for passengers and it’s great for the environment. ASPIRE is changing how we fly.

For more detailed information about ASPIRE-Daily: http://www.aspire-green.com/

About the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
The mission of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) is to “Grow a safe, vibrant air hub and civil aviation system, making a key contribution to Singapore's success”. CAAS' roles are to oversee and promote safety in the aviation industry, develop the air hub and aviation industry, provide air navigation services, develop Singapore as a centre for aviation knowledge and training, and contribute to the development of international aviation.

About Singapore Airlines
When Singapore Airlines was formed in 1972, it operated a modest fleet of 10 aircraft to just 22 cities in 18 countries. With a commitment to fleet modernisation, product and service innovation and market leadership, the Airline quickly distinguished itself as a world-class carrier.

Today, Singapore Airlines operates a modern passenger fleet of more than 100 aircraft and its network, including Singapore Airlines Cargo and SilkAir destinations, currently covers a total of 101 destinations in 40 countries.

In October 2007, Singapore Airlines, a member of the Star Alliance, made aviation history again as the first to fly the world’s largest passenger aircraft, the Airbus A380.

Note:[1]The ASPIRE partners are Airways New Zealand, the United States Federal Aviation Administration, Airservices Australia, Japan Civil Aviation Bureau and Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

For media queries, please contact:

Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
Email: caas_corporate_communications@caas.gov.sg