As Qantas ditches life rafts, airlines reveal how they are reducing costs ... from BA saving £700,000 by cleaning toilet pipes to GoAir only employing 'lighter' women

Qantas Airways has become the latest airline to announce a program of cuts in a bid to maximize profits and keep fuel expenditure as low as possible.

Less legroom, narrower aisles and smaller toilets could see extra rows of seats introduced into the economy sections on its aircraft in proposals backed by its chief executive officer Allan Joyce.

The measures could also see the Australian airline ditching life rafts on over-land flights, draining water tanks more regularly, and using modern technology to streamline on-board entertainment systems.

While high-paying passengers will have the luxury of lie-flat seats in business class, more room will be squeezed out of economy class.

Qantas is just the latest airline to announce cost-cutting measures. Last year, Samoan Air became the first carrier to charge passengers by weight; United Airlines introduced a 'paperless cockpit' using more technology, and uses lighter food trolleys; and GoAir announced it would only employ female flight attendants as they are 'lighter' than men.

British Airways says it has reduced engine taxing by having one engine shut down where suitable, and has descaled the toilet pipes on its Boeing 747s and 777s, resulting in £635,000 in fuel savings.

While easyJet says it is reducing fuel costs by around £312,000 each year by using tablets instead of heavy log-books.

Qantas hopes, despite the cuts, ticket sales can be maximized to enable the carrier to compete with Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia - and has announced its planes will fly for about 12 per cent longer every day.

Bloomberg has reported that Qantas cut non-fuel expenses by 4 per cent on international flights and 3 per cent on domestic flights during the 12 months to June.

'Little changes add up to millions of dollars,' Gareth Evans, chief financial officer of Qantas, which had sales of £7.6bn in the year ending in June and a net loss of £15bn, said.

'Medium-sized changes add up to tens and possibly even hundreds of millions of dollars.'

Another move is to introduce hotter water on board so as to cut grime on equipment and save on replacements.

The Australian reports that, despite much opposition, Qantas is pressing ahead with moves to strip life rafts off more than half its Boeing 737 planes that spend limited or no time over water.

The change affects 38 of its fleet of 72 Boeing 737-800s. A similar change will also be made for six Jetstar A321 aircraft.

Speaking to The Australian, Qantas' head of safety Mike ­Plottel said: 'The majority of our Boeing 737s operate between Australian mainland cities and don't fly over long stretches of water, so rafts simply aren't required even as a precaution.'

South Australian Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has said he is against the move and has written to the airline's chief executive asking him to rule out the idea as a matter of urgency.

Speaking about its cost-cutting measures, a British Airways spokesman told MailOnline Travel: 'One part of our plan to improve fuel efficiency and reduce our carbon footprint is to reduce the weight on all our aircraft.

'We have a dedicated fuel efficiency team – the purpose of which is to report and reduce our fuel consumption.

'Part of this work was to ask every department in the airline to focus on fuel efficiency and ask for ideas to reduce fuel burn.

'More than 50 projects were identified and a number have already been delivered.

'These range from switching from glass quarter-sized wine bottles to plastic equivalents, using lighter knives in our business class cabins and removing under-utilised equipment on board.'

And a a spokesman easyJet said: 'We operate our aircraft in a way that improves fuel efficiency and continually look to see how we can reduce the weight of the aircraft so we can be as fuel efficient as possible.'

The carrier has fitted Panasonic Toughpads in place of laptops and printed navigational charts, in all of its cockpits.

This means that the airline is already nearing a completely paperless plane. The tablets will also make easyJet one of the first airlines to use this type of device in all phases of flight and on the ground.

By replacing heavy printed log books easyJet expects to reduce fuel costs by around £312,000 each year. Every kilo of weight taken off easyJet's fleet of aircraft saves around £12,500 per year.

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