Three airline consultancies — Flight Services International of the United States, Sabena Flight Academy Consulting of Belgium and BMB Fuel Consulting Services of Canada — are joining together to help airline companies save on fuel costs. The cost of getting an airplane from one point to another has more than doubled in the last year and airlines are scrambling to keep up with the costs.

The joint venture will be known as Flight Sciences Global Partners and will be headquartered in Brussels. Rather than encouraging airlines to cover rising fuel costs by raising fares and adding fees, Flight Sciences will make use of the massive amount of data generated by airplanes as they fly to create and implement efficiency measures.

"Every day they're complaining about the price of fuel, and therefore selling the blankets and pillows to offset this price. But if you go back to the organization of the airlines, they're not set up to deal with the biggest cost structure," said Robert Callahan, president of Flight Sciences.

Flight Sciences will also consult with airline companies on their efforts to meet the European Union's carbon-dioxide emissions standards, which will go into effect in 2010 for any company operating flights within the European Union.

Photo — John Wardell