Large Airplanes are as Fuel Efficient As Modern Compact Cars
We’ve talked about how much fuel airplanes can carry—turns out its somewhere between “a lot” and “a whole freakin’ lot”–but did you ever think about their fuel efficiency? Nope, once again you’re only thinking about you. While common sense might tell us that airplanes run through fuel like frat parties run through beer, in reality commercial aircraft are some of the most fuel efficient vehicles out there. For example, the largest commercial jets like the Airbus A380, Boeing 787, ATR-600, and Bombardier C Series all use less than three liters (that’s three of those mid-sized soda bottles; get it together, America) of fuel per 100 passenger kilometers (60 miles). Couching that in automotive terms, that puts those large flying machines on par with the best economy cars when it comes to saving fuel.
And planes are only getting more efficient. High speed innovations like lighter building materials, more efficiently geared engines, better fuselage design, and high-speed heat exchangers to facilitate engine cooling are all in the works to ensure that airplanes only become more environmentally friendly. So while it may be strange to think about flying in a jet-powered triangle made of ceramic, that is actually the future of aviation. Isn’t science amazing?
On that note: hey, science? Where’s my flying car?