Next time you take to the sky on board a Singapore Airlines flight, you may not get an in-flight magazine or you may find a 'lighter' newspaper with fewer pages.
With jet fuel costs almost tripling since year 2000 and accounting for over 40 per cent of operating cost, Singapore Airlines, like many other airlines across the globe, is initiating desperate measures to shed aircraft weight and cut soaring fuel bills.
"We are exploring many innovative ways to shed weight of the aircraft and cut fuel expenses that could include taking out the non-relevant pages of the newspapers like the classified section and doing away with shopping catalogues and in-flight magazine," Singapore Airlines General Manager in India C W Foo said.
The in-flight magazine would now onwards be available on the audio-visual monitor and passengers can browse it to read the magazine.
Singapore Airlines, which hedges between 30 to 60 per cent of its fuel needs, is also looking at "reducing the wastage and trying not to over carry too many meals" as removing the extra weight will help the carrier shave off the fuel expenditure, Foo said.
He said as part of the cost cutting measures, the airline, one of the world's biggest airline by market share, has introduced lighter seats without mechanical motors on its new Boeing 777-300 ER on New Delhi-Singapore and Mumbai-Singapore routes.
The carrier last week announced the commencement of double daily flights from New Delhi to Singapore, up from the current nine flights to 14 a week. The new service comes into effect from September one.
"In the new Boeing 777-300 ER, although seats are bigger and spacious they are lighter because they have less mechanical motors operating the seats. Now passengers in the Business class will have to convert their seats into a bed manually," Foo said.
The airline has worked with leading transportation interior designer James Park Associates of London to develop the new seats.
"In terms of flight operation, Pilots are also looking at most fuel efficient way of ascending," Foo said.
To cut their fuel expenses, many airlines are undertaking a variety of measures and scrutinizing every step of their operations to cut their soaring fuel bills. "Some of these steps may seem small, but they add up to overall cost saving measures," Foo said.
"Fuel price is affecting everybody. We are not immune to it. Although we hedge fuel, but again when you are hedging on an increasing trend your fuel cost is going up.
"We tried to control and manage cost on the other aspects so that we could balance it out," he said.
As part of their cost cutting measures, many carriers across the globe have trimmed the handles of its forks and spoons and pulled in-seat phones and their heavy wiring, some have pulled paper manuals in the cockpit, magazine racks and trash compactors during the past few years to lighten the load.
Hike in fuel prices have led numerous US-based airlines to significantly increase baggage fees.
More than 20 airlines have gone bankrupt this year in the wake of skyrocketing oil price and slowing down of global economies. Many airlines have had to sack thousands of employees, cut salaries, and suspend services.
Many domestic airlines are also feeling the heat of skyrocketing prices of jet fuel. Private air-carriers, Kingfisher and Jet Airways, last month announced a hike in their fares to offset the operating cost.
Asked about the Indian market, Foo said the country stood very high on its list of priority markets across the world.
"India is very important for us. It is one of the top five markets for us. India has most Singapore Airlines cities amongst our network. We have operations in eight Indian cities. That's the most," Foo said.
Singapore Airlines, which started operations in India in 1970, currently operates 58 weekly flights to eight destinations in India, including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad.