NEW YORK: High fuel cost and weakening passenger traffic are taking a toll on the long international flights, a media report said on Tuesday.
Several US carriers are delaying the start of new flights to China and Russia, while overseas airlines are ditching even longer flights, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The shift, it says, comes despite new airplanes from Airbus and Boeing Co that can carry hundreds of people for more than 18 hours on routes that previously required at least one stop, such as between Singapore or Dubai.
These direct links save passengers time, and airlines charge 20 per cent or more for the convenience of flying nonstop. But weakening passenger traffic is making flights of more than 12 hours or so particularly vulnerable to fuel prices, the Journal said.
A passenger on a 15-hour flight, it explained, uses more fuel for each mile of the trip than someone on an eight-hour trip, but the airfare per-mile generally doesn't rise proportionally. When fuel is cheap and traffic strong, airlines can absorb the difference, it explained.
Raj Nangia, an aeronautical engineer who has analysed the issue for Britain's Royal Aeronautical Society, was quoted as saying that flying 18 hours in one hop could double the cost of flying the same route with three stops.
To fly far, a plane needs lot of fuel onboard, and to carry all that fuel, it needs even more fuel.
"With these flights, what you get is a flying tanker with a few people onboard," said Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, chief executive of Air France-KLM SA, which doesn't fly marathon routes.
