What Have Airlines Removed from Aircraft to Save Weight?
July 15 2008
A quick link to a fun little article about what the airlines have removed from their planes to save weight. My favorite? Alaska Airlines took 5 magazines off each plane and saved $10k.
tj on 15 Jul 2008 at 2:27 pm #
fair article, but tacky comments. i would not return to that site.
Hey, airline, have you lost weight? » Upgrade: Travel Better on 15 Jul 2008 at 8:32 pm #
[...] what else have airlines cut to reduce weight? Jared Blank points us to an interesting synopsis of what’s been done to shrink the aeronautic waistline. Check it [...]
charlie on 16 Jul 2008 at 5:08 pm #
OK. This is just mean.
“In removing seatback phones from its MD-80s and B737-400s, another airline shed 200 pounds per airplane, translating into 3,400+ gallons saved annually”
average passenger + 1 bag = at least 200 pound
3400 gallons of fuel @ 3.19 a gallon (what AA paid last Q = $10,846
10.846 / 365 = $29 a day
number of passengers on a MD-80 plane: about 140?
capacity: probably around 80%
number of paying seats: lets say 110
average price of a segment on a MD-80 medium haul ticket: about $175
what the airline pulls in on that plane per segment: $19250
number of times a day that plane is used: around 10?
revenue per day: about 200K per plane
so, by pulling the seatback phones you are saving .01 percent of the revenue you are bringing in.
Basically, if you had managed to raise the ticket price by a one tenth of one penny, that would have been the same fuel saving.
I realize it is a competitive market, but I think an airline could raise the fare by a penny and get away with it.