Airlines Save Gas By Slowing Down, Just Like Drivers
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05. 2.08
credit a73700 Creative Commons
The airlines aren't in the best of shape these days with sky-high fuel prices, and are trying everything, except barrel-rolls to shake change out of our pockets, to save money. Now they are learning tricks from the hypermilers and slowing down to save fuel. Southwest Airlines will save $42 million in fuel this year by adding one to three minutes to each flight. Northwest Airlines cut their speed 10 MPH on a flight from Minneapolis to Paris and saved $535 in fuel, but added 8 minutes. Just what we needed: more time in the sardine can.
Soon they might be down to turboprop speed and we might have to re-think this whole short-haul flying thing. ::New York Times
Short-Haul flying is just silly. I remember reading a statistic that 65% of flights from Chicago O'Hare were for distances of 300 miles or less. And local politicians are talking about an airport expansion! Replace those shorthaul flights with an efficient regional rail system and you'd save fuel, money, and time. If it's high speed rail, then you can extend the system even more.
Sadly, our politicians are in the pockets of both Southwest and the Automobile industry (they are the biggest spenders in the fight to keep a high speed rail line from connecting Portland and Seattle).
I heard this story on the radio today, while driving to work. My commute is under 10 minutes. But I thought to myself, "I should slow down a little to save some gas."
I kept an eye on the speedometer, and glanced at my gas tank. It was very near to E. I thought again, "I have spent $20 on gas, just in the last few days, driving two and from work."
But these thoughts came on a street where the speed limit was 40 mph. That, I could stand. When I turned onto a street with a 25 mph limit, I tried to go slow (as in, 25). But I just couldn't stand it. Maybe it's our fast-paced Internet lifestyle. Maybe we need to all slow down. How about a new 5-10 minute window on all appointments and deadlines?
Jeff.
If you'd like to learn about what Boeing is doing to promote fuel efficiency and the development and use of alternative fuels, you should check out the Renewable Energy Finance Forum-Wall Street, held June 18-19 in New York City. The Vice President of Boeing Capital Corporation, Scott Scherer, will be a keynote speaker at the event, which brings together financiers and renewable energy project developers to share ideas about the future of renewable energy finance.
For more information, visit www.REFFWallStreet.com.
I don't mind the extra 10 mins in the air it's the time in the airports I consider a complete waste of time.... be interesting to see what kind of efficiencies they can introduce there by streamlining the places for speed through rather than shop through.
Just another tiny step toward high speed rail.
Airlines have been doing this. Hasn't anyone else noticed that flights between new york and los angeles can now take up to 6 hours....
Be careful about those statistics. O'Hare is a regional hub, and as such many people who are trying to fly out of the midwest to somewhere else will first fly -to- O'Hare first.
So for that one person, 50% of their flights to and from O'Hare will be under 300 miles (otherwise they'd fly 300 miles to somewhere else).
While there's a lot of commerce going on in Chicago, it's not a mecca, and so many people going there are on there way to somewhere else.
Does this explain why it takes longer to get to my destination? Just kidding..
If Americans are going through the troubles to find ways to save, the Airline companys should take the next step. If they don't, just keep looking at jacked up prices each month.