12 FlightCom Magazine
Unpacking SAA’s Cost
Compression Programme
A
LL unnecessary
weight means
unnecessary fuel
being burned.
Mark Vaughan,
Head of Fuel
Management at
SAA, says that
on the A340-600
every kilogram carried equates to 300 g of fuel
burned, and fuel is one of SAA’s biggest costs.
In a show of unity, Nico Bezuidenhout,
Acting SAA CEO, and members of the
executive team, including SAA Chairperson
Dudu Myeni, were conspicuous by their
presence at this exercise, which was initiated
by the Fuel Forum of the airline’s Cost
Compression Programme. This forum has
been tasked to save fuel by, amongst other
initiatives, coming up with innovative weight
reductions of items carried on board.
Scrutinising the contents of the SAA flight
from Munich was the first in a number of
post-flight inventories. SAA’s first focus is
on passenger comfort related waste. Their
personnel weighed all unused items on board,
from food containers and soap dispensersto magazines and blankets. The second step
will be to look at weight reduction of flight
operation equipment.
“It’s very important for us to verify that
what we have on-board is necessary ...
without compromising passenger comfort,”
said Sylvain Bosc, SAA Chief Commercial
Officer. Bosc went on to say that relativeto most other airlines, SAA has a very long
average stage length, and the longer the flight
the more important the fuel costs. Fuel cost
fluctuations are outside of SAA’s control, but
what can be controlled is the weight of the
aircraft.
SAA’s cost-compression programme
started three years ago, and during this time
SAA has managed to achieve R200 million
in fuel related savings. The greatest savings
have been as a result of organising shorter
routings and identifying the most efficient
Flight Levels, says Vaughan. During the first
year of the programme SAA booked about
R120 million in savings, in the second year
about R70 million and only about R10 million
in the third year. By going through the load
carried on its flights SAA is searching for ways
to re-energise its savings.
The flight from Munich was not full which
implies more unnecessary load being carried
than if it was full, but it also reveals a bigger
issue: that of carrying empty seats.
The inventories are part of the airline’s
90 Day Action Plan and the Long Term
Turnaround Strategy. “The purpose of the
inventory is to get down to nuts and bolts and
how to make savings. It’s a small measure; it
won’t turn the airline around but every little bit
helps,” said Nico Bezuidenhout.SAA is keen to show that it is leaving no stone unturned to cut costs. On 24 February, in a move to re-
energise its cost-compression programme, SAA unpacked the entire contents of an A340-600 to determine
unnecessary weight being carried on its various routes.News
TexT: Graeme WuThÞABOVE: SAA scrutinises the entire load of an A340
to see where it can save weight and, as a result,
money.LEFT: L to R - Zuks Ramasia, SAA General
Manager Operations, Dudu Myeni, Chairperson of
SAA Board, Nico Bezuidenhout, Acting CEO of SAA.