In a first, AI plane lands in Hyd with no additional fuel

For the first time in the country, an Air India flight landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on Monday from New Delhi without provision for any additional fuel on board.
In a first, AI plane lands in Hyd with no additional fuel

HYDERABAD:  For the first time in the country, an Air India flight landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on Monday from New Delhi without provision for any additional fuel on board. According to a media release by Air India,  norms mandate that every aircraft has to carry enough fuel to fly to the destination and also to an alternative airport in case of flight diversion. However, provisions exist in the regulations that allow an aircraft to fly without any additional fuel on board, if the destination airport has two operational runways and good weather, the release said.  

With Hyderabad having two operational runways, Air India flew its Delhi-Hyderabad Boeing 787 wide body aircraft on Monday, without any additional fuel on board, marking the beginning of fuel conservation and emission reduction drive in the Indian aviation sector. Flying without additional fuel does not mean that the aircraft flew with the exact quantity of fuel required to fly from Delhi to Hyderabad. The AI release said that the flight flew with enough fuel for any foreseeable contingencies. 

The additional fuel for alternate destination adds more weight load on an aircraft, resulting in burning of more fuel. For example, according to the AI release, for a Boeing 777 flying from New Delhi to Hyderabad, not carrying additional fuel means a reduction in fuel requirement of about 4,000 kg and a consequential reduction in fuel consumption of about 140 kg. 

The impact of this initiative can be understood in view of the fact that AI flies about 15 flights daily to Hyderabad international airport. Moreover, it is not just AI but Indigo, SpiceJet and Air Asia will also be flying around the same number of flights daily to Hyderabad without additional fuel. The ‘Dispatch with no destination alternate’ is an initiative of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Team effort
The dispatch  is a collective initiative of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Director General of Civil Aviation, Air Traffic Control India Meteorological Department, airlines Air India, Indigo, Spicejet and Air Asia

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com