Chennai: With all the fuel that the bhogi diversions in caused, one flight carrying 600 passengers could have flown to London and back, three flights could have cruised to Dubai and back and six flights could have flown to Delhi and back. The cost in terms of fuel and time lost was huge. Though bhogi-related diversions happen annually, airlines did not reschedule in advance and AAI took it casually.
Around 80 tons to 90 tons of fuel must have been burned by flights for diversions in one of the biggest flight disruptions in recent times at Chennai airport on Saturday. Sixteen flights including nine international flights were diverted to Bengaluru and Hyderabad. While a few were alerted about the airport closure before they could reached near Chennai, other flights hovered in circles for close to 15minutes to 20minutes waiting for visibility to improve before deciding to fly to another airport.
A rough calculation show that the diversions alone could have led to an additional use of approximately 80 tonnes to 90 tonnes of fuel by the 16 flights including fuel needed for hovering, diversion to another airport and return to Chennai.
Though fuel consumption varies from one plane to another depending on the type of engine, size of the plane, and the load it is carries, pilots say that it would take approximately three tons fuel to reach Hyderabad which is an hour away from Chennai. And an A32O or Boeing 737 may burn 2.5 tons to three tons per hour while a B787 may burn 4tons during cruise if wind is favorable and if the plane gets a higher altitude.
The loss also included aircraft operating costs, crew time, meals and hotels, payment for handling planes at the diverted airport, fees to the ground handler, delay of return flight and associated cancellation by passengers.
16/01/18 V Ayyappan/Times of India
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Around 80 tons to 90 tons of fuel must have been burned by flights for diversions in one of the biggest flight disruptions in recent times at Chennai airport on Saturday. Sixteen flights including nine international flights were diverted to Bengaluru and Hyderabad. While a few were alerted about the airport closure before they could reached near Chennai, other flights hovered in circles for close to 15minutes to 20minutes waiting for visibility to improve before deciding to fly to another airport.
A rough calculation show that the diversions alone could have led to an additional use of approximately 80 tonnes to 90 tonnes of fuel by the 16 flights including fuel needed for hovering, diversion to another airport and return to Chennai.
Though fuel consumption varies from one plane to another depending on the type of engine, size of the plane, and the load it is carries, pilots say that it would take approximately three tons fuel to reach Hyderabad which is an hour away from Chennai. And an A32O or Boeing 737 may burn 2.5 tons to three tons per hour while a B787 may burn 4tons during cruise if wind is favorable and if the plane gets a higher altitude.
The loss also included aircraft operating costs, crew time, meals and hotels, payment for handling planes at the diverted airport, fees to the ground handler, delay of return flight and associated cancellation by passengers.
16/01/18 V Ayyappan/Times of India
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