I would need to check the 30hr assumption, but if that is true then every pilot can fly either a ULR return, 2 European flights Or 4 local India or 10 otherwise flights nearby in the Gulf.
With a train set this big and the fuel cost so low, CI 400 is not the issue. Having pilots at the helm is perhaps the real problem and by creating 30hrs x 3500 = 105,000 would make a BIG difference to the business plan (and just pizz off the Americans more
). 105,000 hours is more than an average airliners useable life, this plan might have some truth in the practice (rumour).
J