Soon, fly to Kolkata at less fare and time

The fliers between Mumbai and Kolkata will be benefited as an improved route is being developed from next month for reducing the flight time between the two cities. The development will also reduce the fuel consumption of the airlines, thereby helping in reducing the airfares marginally.

According to the air navigation experts, the route improvement is possible due to technological up gradation of radars at Kolkata airport and also straightening of route with co-ordination from the air force. Few other similar routes including that of Mumbai-Delhi , Kolkata-Chennai, have been improved in the recent past.

At present, incoming and outgoing flights use only one corridor . Though alternative lanes are available for traffic moving in the opposite direction in order to avoid there is no head-on collision, there are points of vulnerability if any of the when a plane climbs /descends on these high-traffic routes. The direct routing will reduce flight time by at least 5-10 minutes which means flying 35 nautical miles less and saving around 250kg of fuel per flight , bring a saving of Rs 15,000 per trip.With 40 flights flying on this sector daily, the savings will be Rs 22 crore per annum. More importantly, the planes will spew 13.8 million kg less carbon dioxide a year.

According to AAI officials, this is one of the first steps towards the global commitment to reduce carbon emissions from aviation. "By using more direct routes, we would be using lesser fuel and thereby lesser carbon emissions. ," an AAI official said.