One minute landing delay = Rs 2,500 loss

Bangalore: Every minute an aircraft hovers over an airport, waiting in an air-queue to land, the airline it belongs to loses Rs 2,500.
That is if the aircraft is a Boeing or an Airbus. If it’s an ATR, the cost is about Rs 750 a minute.
The collective fleet of various Indian carriers today stands at 1,200 aircraft.
Half of them have to circle above airports for an average 30 minutes every day.
That is a loss of Rs 135 crore per month for the airline industry - for no fault of theirs.
The daily losses on account of airport jams are, by conservative estimates, pegged around Rs 5 crore.But it is not just higher jet fuel costs that have hit the airlines.
Air clogs also bulk up personnel costs because airlines shell out overtime money to pilots and cabin crew. It also squeezes their cargo revenues. This is because airlines are forced to carry more fuel - about 30 to 40% more since. This, in turn, increases the weight of aircraft, which automatically limits the cargo that an aircraft can carry.
01/12/06 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

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