Brisbane Airport has said "Aloha" to the first flight from the United States to adopt a raft of emissions-reducing practices, which could revolutionise travel across the Asia-Pacific.
The Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE), a joint venture between Airservices Australia, Airways New Zealand and the US Federal Aviation Administration, encouraged airlines to adopt best practices with a view to reducing emissions.
The inaugural Hawaiian Airlines ASPIRE flight from Honolulu to Brisbane saved more than 680 kilograms of jet fuel on the nine-hour, 28-minute flight journey, which ended at Brisbane Airport at 7.11pm on Tuesday.
It was both Brisbane Airport's and Hawaiian Airlines' second ASPIRE route. Singapore Airlines' Brisbane-Singapore route had also signed on, along with Hawaiian Airlines' Honolulu-Auckland route.
Hawaiian Airlines operations chief pilot Brian Beres, who captained Tuesday's Airbus A330 flight to Brisbane, told Fairfax Media there was a checklist of best practices that aimed to reduce both travel times and fuel consumption.
"You can optimise it based on a set of winds, weather, other airspace restrictions, to make the absolute best use of that airspace so you minimise time and miles flown and, obviously, reduce fuel burn as well," Captain Beres said.
Among the ASPIRE initiative were user-preferred routes, which allowed airlines to customise more efficient flight paths based on current conditions, in-flight route adjustments to respond to atmospheric conditions and reduced oceanic separation between aircraft.
Other efficiencies included taxiing with just one engine and, potentially alarmingly for the uninitiated, an idle descent.
"Idle descent does not mean I'm turning the engines off – it does not mean that – we don't turn into a glider," Captain Beres laughed.
"It means that we're operating the engines at idle thrust, a minimum thrust setting for descent, which is basically the equivalent of driving a car down a hill and not having your foot on the accelerator."
While some of those measures might seem obvious, they required intense coordination between the involved airlines, air traffic control and the airports at either end.
And for the pilots, it meant rethinking their day-to-day operations.
"I don't know if I'd put it in terms of easier or harder," Captain Beres said.
"I would say that there may be more things to think about in terms of planning – we want to more carefully plan how we do business as crews and as an airline – but a lot of times when we engage in these practices we find there are better ways to do business anyway.
"So it may be just replacing a less efficient practice we were doing before. It's sort of change management – it doesn't necessarily mean it's any more difficult in doing.
"It may be difficult for that period of change, in terms of having to manage that, but it doesn't mean it's necessarily harder or easier."
Brisbane was an obvious choice for Hawaiian Airlines' second ASPIRE route, Captain Beres said.
"We've been operating into Brisbane for a number of years now, so we have a level of comfort operating on the city pair between Honolulu and Brisbane," he said.
"Primarily, we looked at Brisbane and saw they were already engaged in these best practice markers we look to when certifying a new route.
"We felt like it was optimally positioned for us to demonstrate as many of those best practices we could."
Airservices Australia executive general manager of air navigation Services Stephen Angus said each agency involved had a unique role to play during an ASPIRE flight.
"Our role at Airservices is to use efficient air traffic management practices to ensure the success of the ASPIRE flight," he said.
"This new route is another example of airlines, airports and air navigation agencies working together to reduce aviation emissions globally."
Brisbane Airport Corporation operations general manager Stephen Goodwin said the airport played its part in assisting airlines to reduce emissions.
"Brisbane Airport Corporation is proud to support Hawaiian Airlines in showcasing environmental strategies that reduce fuel burn and carbon emissions in aviation operations," she said.
"As such, Brisbane Airport, in conjunction with the ground handler, will assist to ensure ground power units and pre-conditioned air is made available for these flights."
While in the air, Captain Beres said, Hawaiian Airlines was collecting important scientific data through the In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System, with instruments attached to the A330.
"We work with Airbus and the scientific community to equip one of our A330s with climate monitoring equipment that will allow data to be collected and help to measure climate change and the changes to the environment," he said.
"There is a large gap in the central-east and south Pacific in terms of data being collected through this project, so Hawaiian Airlines was a natural fit due to its large gap the data fit right in our network."
Captain Beres said he hoped ASPIRE could become a model for air travel across the world.
"We feel like it's a reflection of the community we serve and I feel the guests we bring to Hawaii are certainly concerned about that because, after all, they're coming to see the natural beauty of the islands in the first place," he said.
Hawaiian Airlines will complete its inaugural round-trip ASPIRE flight on Thursday, when flight HA444 departs Brisbane at 9.45pm.
