At a time when aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices are moving only skywards, fuel burns due to air traffic congestion at airports.
BANGALORE: At a time when aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices are moving only skywards, fuel burns due to air traffic congestion at airports, especially Mumbai and Delhi, continue to leave airlines miffed.
All their hopes of reducing holding time (hovering in air before getting permission to land) after the two major airports were handed over the private companies have been dashed as they continue to burn extra fuel because of archaic Air Traffic Control (ATC) procedures and technology, inadequate airport infrastructures and very high runway occupancy (occupancy time on runway between landing and takeoff of two aircraft).
Airlines complain aircraft guzzle over 12% extra jet fuel per hour as they wait in mid-air for their turn to land. This cost could mount by 40-50% if they have to divert their aircraft to other airports for refuelling.
“Since the cost of diverting to other airports is very high, we usually carry additional fuel. This extra fuel increases the weight of the aircraft, and so we end up burning 1-2% additional fuel per hour. Besides this, we burn 10% extra fuel per hour while we wait to land. Thus, we are using 12% extra fuel due to air traffic jams at the airports,” said Air Deccan CEO Warwick Brady.
And airlines lament that the holding time is only getting longer with the rising aircraft and passenger population at the airports. “Every other airline is taking delivery of new aircraft every month. This has increased the number of aircraft and passengers at all airports. It has gone up by over 30-40% from a year ago. As against this, the infrastructure development has not kept pace with it,” said J S Dhillon, vice-president, operations, SpiceJet Ltd.
On an average, Dhillon says, all airlines, put together, are incurring an additional cost of around Rs 3-4 crore per day due to longer waiting time in the air. Dhillon blames the delay in building the second runway at Delhi airport and outdated ATC procedures and technology.
“The pace to airport modernisation at Delhi and Mumbai airport is going very slow. If Kuala Lumpur could build taxi track in few months, why can’t we do the same? Even our ATC rules and technology is more than 20 years old,” fumed Dhillon.
Comparing the runway occupancy of the two metro airports, he said that it is over 70-80% higher than major international airports. “While the time between aircraft’s landing and take-off is around 30 second to one minute at major airports around the world, it is as high as 2-3 minutes at our airports,” Dhillon said.
And as margins of airline evaporate into thin air due to shoddy airport infrastructure, the two private companies - GVK Industries Ltd (Mumbai airport) and GMR Infrastructure Ltd - are yet to come out with a master plan for the airports. It is expected to be out by the September-end or the beginning of October. They also say that since ATC, customs and immigration still remains with the government (Airports Authority of India), they have little control over it.
Hitting the skids
- They blame it on archaic Air Traffic Control procedures and technology, inadequate airport infrastructures besides high runway occupancy
- They lament that the holding time (hovering in air before getting permission to land) is only getting longer with the rising aircraft and passenger population at the airports
Winglets of hope
Airlines like Jet Airways and SpiceJet have turned to better aircraft technology to cut their ATF costs. Both airlines have chosen winglets for their Boeing 737-800s to slash fuel cost. Winglets, which are produced by Aviation Partners Boeing, are upturned fins on the edges of jet wings. It leads to fuel saving of up to 1-2 lakh gallons per aircraft per year, and with the oil prices soaring like never before, this latest aircraft gadget has hit it off very well with airlines. Blended winglets result in block fuel savings of up to 5%.
Jet may report loss in Q1
Jet Airways may post a loss in the first quarter on high fuel costs, fare discounts and expenses from a failed takeover of rival Sahara Airlines Ltd. It had a loss of Rs 1.5 crore in the three months ended June 30 compared with net income of Rs 95.3 crore a year ago, according to the median estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Jet Airways may have written off Rs 180 crore in the last quarter for expenses it incurred from a failed takeover of Sahara Airlines.
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