While the airlines round the world are groaning under the burden of incessant increase in aviation fuel prices, the campaign launched by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for fuel savings has resulted in incredible savings in fuel for the domestic carriers.
The impact and result of the fuel saving campaign have been very promising. The airlines reported savings to the tune of millions of rupees according to the summary of the benefits for the period March 14 to April 10, made available to the press here on Thursday.
The total savings in flight time by the airlines are 29 hours and 35 minutes, which translates to fuel savings of approximately Rs 4.940 million.
CAA Director (Operations) Nusratullah Khan addressing a press conference said that basic aim of the Authority is to provide safe and expeditious flow of air traffic without compromising safety standards. Besides this, the CAA endeavours for provision of passengers' facilities to make their stay comfortable at the airport.
He said the increase in fuel prices has had a profound impact on all industries globally. One of the sectors to have been hit hardest is the aviation industry. Manufacturers are scrambling back to the drawing board with renewed emphasis on efficient airliners and the demand for fuel economy aircraft are predicted to remain high over the next few years.
With fuel prices touching the $70 mark, jet fuel prices have correspondingly touched an all-time high. Airlines and operators alike are facing the brunt of this effect with eroding profit margins and escalating operational costs, he added.
Nusratullah Khan said that the impact of increased jet fuel prices is global. Pakistani carriers are also facing difficult times specially the second and third tier carriers. New entrant private sector airlines are revising their feasibility studies and reconsidering the timing of launch.
He said that the CAA, taking cognisance of the situation, has initiated a campaign for fuel savings to the national and private airlines. It will supplement the fuel saving strategies pursued by the airlines.
This campaign, he said, is based on improved airspace management, and has been initially affected on the Karachi-Islamabad-Karachi sector.
Prior to the CAA campaign, the airlines used to request for direct routing, but now the procedures have been changed. The air traffic services have now been made responsible for co-ordinating with authorities concerned for availability of direct routing and offer the same, subject to availability, to the aircraft at the time of start up.
The details or difference of flying on normal ATS route vis-à-vis direct route is as follows:
(i) Difference of normal and direct route to/from Islamabad is approximately 68NM, (ii) Jet aircraft travel approximately 8NM/minute, and (iii) Flying time saving on direct route is approximately 8 minutes.
Fuel savings recorded during the period March 14 to April 10 by the airlines were: PIAC Rs 3.464 million, Airblue Rs 1.379 million, and Aero Asia 0.116 million. Total savings thus accrued were Rs 4.940 million.
The national carrier, PIAC operates maximum number of flights with wide-body aircraft and has the greatest fleet mix, ie, B747, B777 and A310. Airblue operated smaller aircraft, ie, A320. The percentage benefit to the airlines along with the number of flights operated on the sector were:
PIAC - total flights 346, flights operated on direct route 127, percentage 36.7 percent, Airblue - total flights 168, flights operated on direct route 87, percentage 51.7 percent, and Aero Asia - total flights 116, flights operated on direct route 08, percentage 5.8 percent.
Nusratullah Khan said that the advantage of provision of direct route should not be looked into the precept of fuel saving only, but the other added advantages/savings, according to him would be:
(a) Additional fast track ground check time for maintenance, etc is available for airlines for the turnaround, (b) Passengers reach their destination early, (c) The usage life of aircraft is enhanced, and (d) Aircrew fatigue factor is decreased which will in the long-run help to improve efficiency.