Dubai: Emirates’ policy of operating one of the youngest fleets in the world saw the airline improve its fuel efficiency by 1 per cent to 0.3057 litres per tonne kilometre in its last financial year.
The improvement came from the new 24 new aircraft and retired 10 older that the airline brought in over the 12 months to March 31, 2015, according to Emirates Group’s 5th Annual Environmental Report released on Wednesday.
The airline said its fuel efficiency of 0.3057 litres per tonne kilometre is 14 per cent better than the International Air Transport Association (IATA) average. It was 14.5 per cent better in the previous financial year.
The improvement in fuel efficiency would be welcomed by any airline, where fuel is often the single largest operational cost. In 2014-2015, Emirates airline spent Dh28.7 billion ($7.8 billion) on jet fuel, 34.6 per cent of its operational costs.
But with its fleet expanding to 232 aircraft, including freighters, at the end of its last financial year, Emirates fuel consumption also increased. It was up 10.2 per cent to 8,975,666 tonnes and so w ere CO2 emissions to 28,273,348 tonnes.
The increase in fuel consumption was impacted by the 80-day runway closure at Dubai International in 2014, Emirates said, because aircraft had to carry extra contingency fuel to adapt to the temporary one-runway airport.
However, CO2 emission from ground operations, which includes dnata, fell by 7.2 per cent to 1,181,288 tonnes.
The average age of its aircraft as of March 31, 2015 was 6.25 years, Emirates said, half the IATA average of 140 months.
Emirates will add 29 aircraft in its current fiscal year, an airline spokesperson told Gulf News. The airline plans to receive 37 aircraft valued at $14.5 billion at list prices in the 2016-2017 financial year.
