Airlines cut costs at passengers' expense

New Delhi: Flights can avoid air pockets, but not rising fuel prices. Hence to stay afloat, airlines are lightening their load and changing speeds to reduce consumption. Instead of digging their way out of the new decline, the airlines are now nosing around for ways to bear the brunt of escalating fuel costs.
Full-service airlines are, therefore, carrying lesser water for the washrooms; fresh lime drinks don’t come in glasses anymore on many domestic routes and are rather being served directly in pet bottles; the choices of newspapers and magazines have gone down; blankets are available only in limited numbers and on demand; and inflight services are changing as only a box of snacks are preferably being served to passengers in place of gourmet meals, fruit crackers and spreadable cheese. And the choices in menus too are limited. On the short-haul flights, they are putting less fuel in the tank.
The lighter the better has been an advice less heeded by passengers. But airlines are taking to the axiom and offloading as much as they can before flying. According to industry insiders, airlines have pulled out unused ovens, changed metal food carts with lighter fibre ones and replaced glassware with plastics. Some carriers have removed paper manuals in the cockpit and installed electronic maintenance logbooks. They plug-in planes to ground power as soon as its lands for power and air-conditioning. “Every little bit helps, especially for an airline half of whose operating costs go into fuel,” said a senior airline executive.
05/05/08 Chanchal Pal Chauhan/Economic Times

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General May 2008