Our Enivornment 
ASPIRE - leading from the front
Airways is a world-leader in exploring technological innovations and implementing best practice initiatives to help reduce the impact of aviation on the environment. An example of this is our foundation membership of ASPIRE, the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions. A collaborative partnership between Airways, Airservices Australia and the United States' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), ASPIRE has spawned a number of similar partnerships throughout the world, all working towards a common goal of saving fuel, reducing emissions and ensuring the sustainable future of flight.
ASPIRE - Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions
Under ASPIRE, the FAA, Airservices Australia and Airways New Zealand, as the air navigation service providers, will aim to work closely with governments, airlines and other air navigation service providers in the region, to:
- accelerate the development and implementation of operational procedures to reduce the environmental footprint for all phases of flight on an operation by operation basis, from gate to gate;
- facilitate world-wide interoperability of environmentally friendly procedures and standards;
- capitalize on existing technology and best practices;
- develop shared performance metrics to measure improvements in the environmental performance of the air transport system; and
- provide a systematic approach to ensure appropriate mitigation actions with short, medium and long-term results.
We have committed to move forward to foster implementation of this program along key Asian and South Pacific routes and welcome participation from other key stakeholders as we proceed. We believe aggressive action to make real new concepts of operation and take advantage of innovations in aircraft and air traffic management technology are crucial if aviation is to exercise its proper stewardship of the environment. We look forward to regularly reporting our progress to the global aviation community in hopes that others may benefit from our collective efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of the aviation sector.
More details of the ASPIRE Initiative are available at the ASPIRE web site.
Working together for a sustainable future
ANSPs are working closely with their airline industry partners to develop technology and procedures to reduce fuel burn and CO² emissions. Airways has won international accolades for its implementation of Collaborative Flow Management (CFM) tools, which over the past year have saved their major airline customers in NZ around $15 million in reduced fuel consumption and reduced carbon emissions by around 32 million tonnes.
“ANSPs are now a key part of enabling airlines to operate better. By working closely with airlines, we can develop technologies that deliver real savings, both economically and environmentally, without impacting on safety and service delivery. Tools like CFM benefit everyone – ANSPs, the airlines and ultimately, their passengers” said developer, Chris McGaw
Performance-based Navigation
Performance-based Navigation (PBN) is a ‘whole of system’ approach that is fundamentally changing the way we fly.
PBN is the GPS of aviation. It uses satellites to pinpoint the exact location of aircraft, which means greater ability for ANSPs to be more dynamic in their use of airspace. PBN means you can fly any path in the sky and you can go anywhere you want whereas with conventional flight you could only fly between, or to and from, aids.
“For Airways, PBN instills the concept that now, smart air traffic controlling is about understanding customer service. We’re now factoring in their business needs, like enabling minimum fuel burn, whilst still providing the best runway capacity and required safety standards” says Airways PBN Project Coordinator, Kevin Bethwaite.