AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH

[solarbird]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

Comments

[sir-quirky-k.livejournal.com]

...is it so wrong that I'm slightly less-than-unhappy about this because more people on a given plane = fewer planes required = less CO2 emissions?

(Note: the writer of this comment is an environmentalist who has only flown twice in his life, and that against his will on a family holiday to Mallorca.)

[adularia.livejournal.com]

I haven't done the math to make the comparison, but the more people on the plane, the heavier the plane. The heavier the plane, the more jet fuel it will consume on a given flight. The airline might make a lot more MONEY with four times the people on any given flight, but at a serious fuel/emissions cost even if they cut the number of flights per day.

[epawtows.livejournal.com]

While putting more weight on a plane, or making a plane bigger, does use more fuel, it doesn't increase it enough to count as another aircraft.

I.E., a 200-passenger 757 will use less fuel on a cross-country flight than two 100-seat 737's.

[dpawtows.livejournal.com]

Think of it this way:
If you add one 200-lb person to an existing aircraft, then that's an extra 200lbs that have to be lifted into the sky. If you put this person onto another aircraft, then you have the same 200 lbs plus the new airframe to lift into the sky.
In general, one large vehicle is ususally more fuel-efficient than multiple small vehciles of the same total capacity. That's the principle behind supertankers and freight trains.