An Air India Boeing 777 took off from Mumbai this Monday (October ober 14) with almost 130 tonnes of jet fuel in its tanks for a 16-hour nonstop journey to New York’s JFK airport. Soon after take-off, the airline received a call saying there was a bomb in the plane. JFK-bound AI 119 was immediately diverted and within two hours of take-off, it was preparing to land in Delhi. But there was a problem.
“The maximum landing weight of a B777 is 250 tonnes. A full flight like this weighs about 340-350 tonnes with passengers, baggage and cargo on take-off. Landing within two hours means dumping about 100 tones of fuel. At almost Rs 1 lakh per tonne, the fuel wastage cost alone works out to Rs 1 crore,” said a senior pilot.
Add to it other expenses like the unexpected landing and parking charges at IGI Airport, putting up over 200 passengers and crew in Delhi hotels, compensating them later for missed connections, grounding of aircraft before it can be back in service after thorough checks and arranging a fresh pair of operating crew, and the aircraft not reaching JFK to fly passengers from there to India on a scheduled return flight — the total cost of this one hoax threat works out to way over Rs 3 crore, say senior officials.
Costs adding up
The spate of hoax threats since last Sunday — close to 40 by late Thursday — is having a massive financial impact on airlines. Rough estimates by airline officials peg the extra expense at about Rs 60-80 crore.
Take the case of Air India B777 (VT-ALM) that took off from Delhi this Tuesday (October 15) for Chicago. Twelve hours later, the aircraft with over 200 passengers on board landed in the remote Canadian town of Iqaluit after a bomb threat. The aircraft landed there on October 15 at 5.21 am EDT. The next commercial flight it flew was three and a half days later. First it reached Chicago from Iqaluit as a ferry flight — with no passengers as the stranded passengers had been flown earlier to Chicago on a Canadian Air Force A330 for which AI will pay — and then took off as a commercial flight to Delhi at 5.15 pm on October 18.
The average monthly rental of a B777 is between $400,000 and $600,000 — this works out to an average daily rental of about $17,000. Not flying means $17,000 down the drain every single day. Now, had it not been for the hoax threat, the aircraft would have reached Chicago and then after a few hours, left for Delhi as a regular flight. But not reaching Chicago meant over 200 passengers and crew stranded in Iqaluit for whom accommodation, meals and other basic necessities had to be arranged in a remote town. Then flying them to Chicago on a Canadian Air Force plane. And, meanwhile, having to deal with Delhi-bound passengers in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport whose aircraft didn’t show up because it was stranded in Iqaluit. The overall cost of this one threat would run into over Rs 15-20 crore, including the cost of a B777 grounded for that long, said multiple people.
‘ Financial Terrorism ’
No big airline that has been a victim of these threats in the last few days commented on this issue. “This is the peak festive rush season and we don’t want to create a scare among travellers. Suffice it to say that this is a sort of financial terrorism against airlines and should be dealt with severely,” said a senior airline official.
IndiGo, too, has got threats for several flights, both domestic and international. Ve ry often when a flight gets a threat message and is not diverted. The destination airport asks it to hold or hover. This has happened with AI in London, AI Express in Singapore, and perhaps others too. “A B777 burns 7-8 tonnes of fuel every hour and an A320 2.5 tonnes. At Rs 1 lakh per tonne and two hours of hovering, the cost of fuel burn alone is over several crores for all affected airlines,” said a pilot.
“Due to the extra time spent in air, very often the same crew can’t operate the next flight this aircraft will operate after being cleared by security agencies post checks. They will need to be rested and given hotel accommodation in that city. It has not been uncommon to have aircraft out of action for 20-25 hours during these crazy hoax message times. While this a force majeure event beyond our control, many passengers who miss connections will take us to court and eventually we will have to settle by paying damages,” said a senior official of a big airline.
Making matters worse is the fact there are two types of threats. A specific one where a particular flight number is named or a generic one like the one Air India got on Thursday, saying five AI flights have bombs in them.
“Risk assessment is done. The source of the threat is seen, whether it came via X (former Twitter), WhatsApp, call or mail. Based on an evaluation matrix, the code is decided — whether red (very serious), amber (serious) or green (most likely hoax). But in no circumstances is any threat dismissed as it is better to be safe, even if it means losses and angry passengers, than sorry,” said an official.
In cases assessed to be serious, flight have to land at the nearest suitable airport. “To avoid oversight landings, we can dump fuel when the aircraft is holding at over 5,000 feet. Fuel jettisoned from that altitude will vapourise. In Delhi, we dump a little south of the capital near Sakras and in Mumbai over the sea, ” said a pilot.
“The maximum landing weight of a B777 is 250 tonnes. A full flight like this weighs about 340-350 tonnes with passengers, baggage and cargo on take-off. Landing within two hours means dumping about 100 tones of fuel. At almost Rs 1 lakh per tonne, the fuel wastage cost alone works out to Rs 1 crore,” said a senior pilot.
Add to it other expenses like the unexpected landing and parking charges at IGI Airport, putting up over 200 passengers and crew in Delhi hotels, compensating them later for missed connections, grounding of aircraft before it can be back in service after thorough checks and arranging a fresh pair of operating crew, and the aircraft not reaching JFK to fly passengers from there to India on a scheduled return flight — the total cost of this one hoax threat works out to way over Rs 3 crore, say senior officials.
Costs adding up
The spate of hoax threats since last Sunday — close to 40 by late Thursday — is having a massive financial impact on airlines. Rough estimates by airline officials peg the extra expense at about Rs 60-80 crore.
Take the case of Air India B777 (VT-ALM) that took off from Delhi this Tuesday (October 15) for Chicago. Twelve hours later, the aircraft with over 200 passengers on board landed in the remote Canadian town of Iqaluit after a bomb threat. The aircraft landed there on October 15 at 5.21 am EDT. The next commercial flight it flew was three and a half days later. First it reached Chicago from Iqaluit as a ferry flight — with no passengers as the stranded passengers had been flown earlier to Chicago on a Canadian Air Force A330 for which AI will pay — and then took off as a commercial flight to Delhi at 5.15 pm on October 18.
The average monthly rental of a B777 is between $400,000 and $600,000 — this works out to an average daily rental of about $17,000. Not flying means $17,000 down the drain every single day. Now, had it not been for the hoax threat, the aircraft would have reached Chicago and then after a few hours, left for Delhi as a regular flight. But not reaching Chicago meant over 200 passengers and crew stranded in Iqaluit for whom accommodation, meals and other basic necessities had to be arranged in a remote town. Then flying them to Chicago on a Canadian Air Force plane. And, meanwhile, having to deal with Delhi-bound passengers in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport whose aircraft didn’t show up because it was stranded in Iqaluit. The overall cost of this one threat would run into over Rs 15-20 crore, including the cost of a B777 grounded for that long, said multiple people.
‘ Financial Terrorism ’
No big airline that has been a victim of these threats in the last few days commented on this issue. “This is the peak festive rush season and we don’t want to create a scare among travellers. Suffice it to say that this is a sort of financial terrorism against airlines and should be dealt with severely,” said a senior airline official.
IndiGo, too, has got threats for several flights, both domestic and international. Ve ry often when a flight gets a threat message and is not diverted. The destination airport asks it to hold or hover. This has happened with AI in London, AI Express in Singapore, and perhaps others too. “A B777 burns 7-8 tonnes of fuel every hour and an A320 2.5 tonnes. At Rs 1 lakh per tonne and two hours of hovering, the cost of fuel burn alone is over several crores for all affected airlines,” said a pilot.
“Due to the extra time spent in air, very often the same crew can’t operate the next flight this aircraft will operate after being cleared by security agencies post checks. They will need to be rested and given hotel accommodation in that city. It has not been uncommon to have aircraft out of action for 20-25 hours during these crazy hoax message times. While this a force majeure event beyond our control, many passengers who miss connections will take us to court and eventually we will have to settle by paying damages,” said a senior official of a big airline.
Making matters worse is the fact there are two types of threats. A specific one where a particular flight number is named or a generic one like the one Air India got on Thursday, saying five AI flights have bombs in them.
“Risk assessment is done. The source of the threat is seen, whether it came via X (former Twitter), WhatsApp, call or mail. Based on an evaluation matrix, the code is decided — whether red (very serious), amber (serious) or green (most likely hoax). But in no circumstances is any threat dismissed as it is better to be safe, even if it means losses and angry passengers, than sorry,” said an official.
In cases assessed to be serious, flight have to land at the nearest suitable airport. “To avoid oversight landings, we can dump fuel when the aircraft is holding at over 5,000 feet. Fuel jettisoned from that altitude will vapourise. In Delhi, we dump a little south of the capital near Sakras and in Mumbai over the sea, ” said a pilot.
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