BOK2GO a question
SAA is trying to save themselves to profit, not just SAA but all the airlines, its basically about survival now.
Who designs arrivals departures etc is it ATNS?
SAA pilots are being asked to carry very little extra fuel on top of the figure given by the SITA flight plan, I personally cant see the huge saving here, for example on a flight from JHB to Cape Town if one was to uplift and extra ton of fuel on top of the SITA figure, that would only amount to an extra burn of 30kg, you may say that over x number of flights that is a huge saving, but lets now factor in some bad weather and delays due to ATC, now if you take SITA fuel you may have 5 mins of fuel before you have to divert, so factoring in any diversions that may occur the amount of fuel saved is reduced.
This said I would like to know if the airline companies talk to ATNS, about ways to help out your clients, for example getting rid of the ridiculous Vavan arrival in Durban which adds 15 mins to a flight if Rnw 06 is in use, would save 500 to 600 kg of fuel per flight, are the airlines putting any pressure on ATNS to pay there staff better and hire more people to aleviate the pressure on Radar by opening more sectors?
I know I should probably ask someone in the airline company that I work for these questions, but from your side do you know of anything going on to help reduce the cost to your clients, and if not why not because I see efficient ATC and airspace management as potentially the largest area of saving any airline can make per flight.