ISLAMABAD, Oct 26: The government is bearing a high cost of fuel ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs90,000 per hour for different helicopters engaged in the earthquake relief operation, Inter- Services Public Relations ISPR) Director-General Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan told Dawn.

“If a helicopter flies for one whole day it consumes fuel of about $6,000 (Rs360,000) to $10,000 (Rs600,000) depending on the size and other specifications of the aircraft.”

There are almost 90 helicopters engaged in relief operations and each one is flying over eight hours a day, he said. Helicopters flying relief or rescue missions are consuming 600 litres to 800 litres of fuel in one hour, which means 6,400 litres for eight hours of flight. On average, the 90 helicopters are consuming 5,582,400 litres of fuel in a single day.

The government has also borne the high costs of refuelling all the fixed-winged aircraft which have brought in relief goods, the military spokesman said. This is the fuel expenditure of helicopters and all fixed-winged aircraft from the Chaklala airbase only.

“This also excludes all other costs such as that of spares. We have also been providing spares for helicopters such as the Afghan MI-17, which needed the new tail rotor replaced. The Americans have been bringing in their own spares for their Chinook and other helicopters,” Mr Sultan said.

According to information acquired, helicopters are far more expensive to maintain compared to fixed-winged aircraft. All body parts in a helicopter move except the body (shell). “A helicopter needs new parts after 100 hours to 500 hours of flight and without new parts it cannot be allowed to fly,” said a source.

A senior official in the ISPR told Dawn that the government was using its reserves to meet all the fuel requirements. “We have been utilising our own reserves to deal with the crisis. It is not being considered how much is being used and where it is coming from or who is paying. The top most priority right now is to meet the requirements of all aircraft engaged in the relief operations. It will be decided later who will pay,” he said.

According to the ISPR, out of the 91 choppers 41 belonged to Pakistan, 22 were from various friendly countries and 18 were of various NGOs and independent organizations.

The Pakistani helicopters engaged in the rescue and relief missions included 16 MI-17s, three Puma, ten Bell-412, two Y-12, two Sea King (Navy) and eight Aloutte.

There were 22 allied helicopters including 12 of the US, two German, two from Saudi Arabia and four Afghan MI-17s.

Besides, there were 18 miscellaneous helicopters including three of the International Committee of the Red Cross, three Japanese, two Latvians, two from the UN, four AB-139 of the Aga Khan Foundation, two Kamove of France and one Bell-212 of UAE.

During the last 16 days, the fleet of Pakistani and allied helicopters have flown 2,715 hours and evacuated 13,651 casualties.