Airspace closed: Indian airlines face daily fuel cost blow of PKR210mn

Karachi: The closure of Pakistani airspace is causing a loss of around Rs210 million per day to Indian airlines in terms of fuel alone. If the ban continues, the airlines will have to bear even heavier losses.

On the other hand, to avoid long-haul flights, passengers are preferring to travel on short-haul foreign flights that can pass through Pakistani borders and reach India. The travel costs of these flights are also lower.

According to experts, a Boeing 777 aircraft consumes 6,668 kilograms of fuel in an hour, and an Airbus A319, A320, or A321 aircraft consumes an average of 2,400 kilograms of fuel. The average price of one kilogram of jet fuel is $82, and the current price of 6,668 kilograms of jet fuel in India is $5,467.

According to a simple calculation, if a Boeing 777 or 787 aircraft flies for 100 hours more, it will have to spend an additional $546,776 on fuel alone. Similarly, if an Airbus A319, A320, or A321 aircraft flies for 100 hours more, the airline will have to bear the burden of an additional $196,000 in fuel costs.

Due to the closure of Pakistani airspace, Indian airline flights have to travel for 2 to 4 hours more, but here the calculation is made for two hours. For 100 Boeing and 100 Airbus aircraft to travel to and from India to the US, Canada, Europe, the UK, or other countries for two hours more per day, an additional fuel cost of $742,776 will have to be incurred.

Air India and other Indian airlines are facing a daily loss of Rs63.5 million in fuel alone, which amounts to around Rs210 million in Pakistani rupees.

If the ban continues, long-haul flights will have to make stopovers at airports in other countries for refueling or staff changes, which is also expensive.