ABTA calls for updated fleets to reduce fuel costs

UK airline companies are being urged by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) to update their fleets with new, more fuel-efficient aircraft as a major means of reducing operating costs.

According to the trade association, individual could see substantial savings in fuel bills by replacing older planes in their fleets with newer, “greener” models that are being built to meet improved fuel consumption specifications.

Ryanair has experienced heavy financial losses due to the high cost of fuel, noted the association, which suggested that older, less fuel-efficient planes in the carrier’s fleet contributed to the problem.

An ABTA spokesperson, Sean Tipton, said that during this past summer oil prices were twice as high as they were a year ago, and were largely responsible for the crisis that developed, seeing several carriers collapse financially.

“The ones which are really being hit by this are older fleets because older planes are much less fuel efficient, so they are going to be burning more fuel and they are [more] inefficiently manned than newer fleets,” he explained.

Referring to the recent increase in airline financial failures, including the Zoom collapse two weeks ago, Tipton added: “In terms of airlines going out of business, they are the ones which haven’t been going for long.”

www.abta.com