Trial allowing pilots to pick most direct and efficient paths extended

A trial that has allowed pilots on certain flights to choose the most direct and efficient paths has been extended by almost six months until the end of April 2025.

- Vanessa Paige Chelvan

The air traffic management concept - called user-preferred routing (UPR) - lets pilots decide their flight paths, in the hope of shortening flight times, saving fuel and reducing carbon emissions if wind conditions are in their favour.

Traditionally, pilots have to use a fixed network of airways to get from one point to another.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced in August that the UPR trial had begun on 38 routes between destinations in Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.

The flights are operated by national flag carriers Singapore Airlines (SIA), Garuda Indonesia, Qantas and Air New Zealand.

These routes include those from Singapore to Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Cairns, Christchurch, Darwin, Melbourne and Perth, as well as from Sydney to Singapore.

Mr Vincent Hwa, director of air traffic services at CAAS, told The Straits Times that feedback on the trial from the carriers and the air navigation service providers involved has been positive.

The three-month trial was initially set to end in early November.

The extension will allow the parties involved to collect more data on the benefits of UPR over a longer period, and to expand the trial to cover more of the Asia-Pacific region, Mr Hwa said.

CAAS and its Japanese counterpart, the Iapan Civil Aviation Bureau, recently agreed to encourage the use of UPR in the region.