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Chinese airline discourages passengers to use toilets mid air
Beijing, Nov 30 (UNI)

As Chinese airlines come under increasing pressure from rising fuel costs, China Southern, a leading airline is encouraging domestic passengers to use toilets before boarding the aircraft as one mid-air flush consumes one litre of fuel.
 ‘‘The energy used in one flush is enough for an economical car to run at least 10 kilometres,’’ Captain Liu Zhiyuan, who flies regularly between Hangzhou and Beijing, said.
 Citing a survey by the company’s logistics department, Liu said carrying one kilogram of items such as blankets and pillows by air for one hour uses 0.2 kilograms of fuel oil.
 ‘‘This means the blankets and pillows on board the aircraft eat up 60 tonnes of fuel every day. If each seat is loaded with three 450-gram magazines, another 60 tonnes will be consumed,’’ he explained.
 ‘‘120 tonnes of fuel can carry a Boeing 737 aircraft to Paris from Beijing and back,’’ he added.
 ‘‘Fuel expenditure accounts for up to 35 to 40 per cent of the total operational costs of Chinese airlines, so reducing fuel consumption to the extent that the basic needs of customers are still guaranteed has become essential,’’ he was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
 As another cost cutting measure, the company has also asked logistics staff to fill the water tank only 60 per cent full.
 Liu said that pilots could also save money by maximising their flying skills. ‘‘Wind velocity varies at different heights so fuel consumption also differs,’’ he said.
 In the first half of the year, the aggregated loss of China’s local airlines was estimated at around three billion yuan (USD 380 million).