The Hindu Business Line : Airlines mull frequent cleaning, operating fuel-efficient planes to cut oil bill

New Delhi, May 30 In these days of spiralling global oil prices domestic airlines are trying all possible means to ensure that the high oil prices have minimum effect on their bottomline. The measures being adopted by the industry vary from getting the aircraft cleaned at more regular intervals to operating new generation aircraft such as the Boeing 737-800 or the Airbus A-320 family that consume almost 30-40 per cent less fuel than older aircraft. The global price of oil has crossed $135 a barrel, up from $100 earlier this year. The Executive Vice-President, Kingfisher Airline, Mr Hitesh Patel, told Business Line that cleaning the aircraft more often and using ground power units instead of the aircraft’s auxiliary power units are among the steps being taken by the airline to cut its fuel bill.

“Cleaning the aircraft more frequently ensures there is no drag during flight and this helps burn less fuel. “All the measures initiated have helped reduce fuel burn by 1.5-2 per cent and, therefore, cut costs,” he said.

MDLR

Similarly the Delhi-based MDLR airline’s decision to pick fuel from Raipur and Chandigarh instead of Delhi is helping cut its fuel bill by 8-10 per cent. Others airlines such as SpiceJet are operating aircraft with winglets which improve fuel efficiency.

SpiceJet

According to the SpiceJet Chief Financial Officer, Mr Partha Sarathi Basu, the airline is also not providing any coat hangars or paper — all of which add to the weight of the aircraft.

IndiGo

IndiGo Airlines has implemented an intensive computer system which provides inputs on how much fuel should be carried and what should be the optimum speed and altitude at which the aircraft should operate, said the airline President and Chief Executive, Mr Bruce Ashby. Despite these measures airline officials feel that the situation cannot change till the Government reduces the taxes levied on airline turbine fuel (ATF), which at the moment vary between four and 36 per cent across the country.

This makes the domestic price of ATF anywhere between 70-90 per cent higher than what airlines pay for fuel in either Singapore or Dubai. “Any reduction in taxes levied on ATF will help as fuel accounts for 40-45 per cent of the operating costs of domestic airlines,” said an airline official.

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