Airline saves crores with `weight loss' programme

Mumbai: Airline cost-cutting measures have come a long way since the `80s when American Airlines removed one olive from each salad served in first class and saved about $ 40,000 annually. These days, airlines bring about savings with unobtrusive measures-rationalising meal and water upliftment in each flight, doing away with heavy garbage compactors, reducing bar items, etc.
Air India, for one, announced on Saturday that it had saved Rs 45 crore in the last five months simply by reducing the weight of its aircraft with these measures. The fuel prices may be at an all-time low, but the airline is monitoring every drop of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) usage literally and is looking forward to increasing its savings to Rs 75 crore in the coming year.
"Simple measures like reducing potable water upliftment were implemented. Water consumption on different flights were monitored and the practice of filling up the tanks completely was stopped. We saved Rs 45 crore since September 2008. Next month, a new computerised flight planning system will be introduced and we expect a saving of Rs 75 crore this year,'' said K M Unni, head of AI MRO (Air frame) in the sidelines of a seminar on Fuel Management organised by the Aeronautical Society of India on Saturday.
For instance-you may have not noticed it-but the 1-litre water bottles on Mumbai-New York ultra-long haul flights have disappeared. The airline figured out that as the flight departed at 12.45 pm and landed in New York at 6.30 am, the bottles were hardly asked for by the passengers.
The airline, in consultation with International Air Transport Association (IATA), has introduced a number of aircraft-specific measures like removing the 81-kg trash compactors on all their Boeing 737 flights, but retaining them on aircraft doing longer flights like the Boeing 777. Meal upliftments are monitored-older, heavier trolleys have been replaced with lighter ones, and bar items have been reduced. "This has reduced two to three tonnes on our Boeing 737s,'' he added.
01/03/09 Times of India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: NACIL Mar 2009, New Mar 2009