KEY POINTS:
An Air New Zealand Boeing 777 on a fuel saving trial to San Fransisco beat expectations today.
The flight with many air traffic constraints removed and additional pre-flight fuel saving measures in place was expected to save 4400 litres but in fact saved 4600 litres - around a 4 per cent saving.
"We're thrilled with the planning and level of accuracy that has been realised," said the airline's chief pilot Dave Morgan.
The flight from Auckland was due to take 12hours but arrived five minutes early after the 10,580 journey.
Air New Zealand would saved around $7000 in fuel costs for the flight dubbed Aspire 1, the first in the world to have gate to gate air traffic constraints removed.
The flight was run in partnership with Airways NZ, the US Federal Aviation Administration and Airservices Australia.
The Asia South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions touches every aspect of the flight form the time a plane spends taxiing on the ground to how quickly it climbs, its route and gliding into landing using minimal power.
During a press conference at San Fransisco Airport the FAA's acting admistrator Bobby Sturgell said today "was a great day for aviation."
"Good ideas catch on. We've already been approached by other potential partners in the region.'
Captain Morgan said among fuel saving measure before takeoff was use of Auckland Airport's electricity to power the plane's lights and airconditioning while sitting at the gate instead of using its own auxillary engine located in the tail of the aircraft.
On take off the aircraft turned at just 500 feet over the airport to track east - rather than at a higher altitude after being given priority to use the airspace.
Two route changes along the way to take advantage of tail winds also saved fuel and time.
"What we have done today is prove there is a way ahead for the aviation industry."
Aside from the early arrival and shorter taxi-ing distance, passengers noticed very little different about the flight.
In Europe, air traffic control rules and holdups are estimated to account for 12 per cent of aircraft fuel around the world.
If the scheme was extended to the 156 flights a week between Australia, New Zealand and the United States and Canada, potential annual savings are in excess of 37 million litres of fuel or reduced CO2 emissions of over 100,000 tonnes.
Airways chief executive Ashley Smout said New Zealand and the Pacific was a good testing space because of the relatively uncrowded skies. Already more efficient controls have saved airlines about $20 million a year in reduced fuel bills.
The Aspire 1 flight had further demonstrated what could be achieved in the relatively uncrowded airspace. Such systems were more difficult to set up in Europe and Asia where there were sovereignty issues and conflict with military requirements.
In theory every flight across the Pacific could run according to the Aspire 1 model but there was still a choke point on the western United States.
"We've got a production line in the sky and we're trying to take the bottlenecks out of it. It's a long term project that's not going to happen overnight."
One problem was computers on older aircraft were not compatible with the latest equipment controllers had, he said.
* Grant Bradley travelled to San Francisco courtesy of Air New Zealand
