"Airlines move to conserve fuel"

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Airlines move to conserve fuel
Jets cut weight, speed, tote less reserve fuel
By BRAD FOSS
The Associated Press


Pilots for Ted, United Airlines' low-fare carrier, flew 14 mph slower at
cruise altitude over the Memorial Day weekend.

At American Airlines, planes flying trans-Atlantic flights now carry less
emergency fuel, to lighten their loads.

And at JetBlue Airways, pilots are using one engine instead of two to taxi
along congested runways.

With high oil prices stifling the airline industry's recovery, U.S. carriers
are finding ways to cut back on the amount of fuel they use, placing an
emphasis on fuel efficiency not seen since the 1980s energy crisis.

Some carriers said they recently lowered their fuel-burn rate in the air and
on the ground by as much as 3 percent on certain routes. That is not nearly
enough to counter the industry's anticipated loss of $3 billion in 2004, but
the amount saved is not chump change either for a business that spends
roughly one out of every seven of its pennies at the pump.

"That money goes right to the bottom line. That's why we're being so
aggressive," said Steve Forte, senior vice president of flight operations at
UAL Corp.'s United Airlines. The bankrupt carrier aims to trim its
anticipated $3 billion jet fuel bill this year by 0.5 percent by focusing
sharply on efficiency.

United's low-fare unit, Ted, reduced the maximum flying speed of its planes
from 530 mph to 516 mph over the Memorial Day weekend, saving about 3,000
gallons of fuel while sacrificing "very little" on its on-time performance,
Forte said. 

The relative fuel efficiency of any airline depends mostly on the age of its
planes, the length of its routes and the number of seats sold per flight.
While critical, these factors cannot be easily, or inexpensively, changed.

But there are plenty of rather simple ways for airlines to burn less fuel.
One well-known strategy is to carry less weight.

To that end, American Airlines, the nation's largest carrier, in late May
began flying trans-Atlantic flights with half as much reserve, or emergency,
fuel in its tanks. This lightens the load AMR Corp.'s jetliners need to
shuttle back and forth -- each gallon of jet fuel weighs 6.7 pounds -- and
the move is expected to save the Fort Worth, Texas-based company about $10.5
million in 2004.

With authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration, American now
flies to Europe with a fuel reserve of 5 percent instead of 10 percent.
Several other carriers, including United and Continental Airlines Inc., are
seeking similar FAA authority.

"It still leaves us plenty of room for safety," airline spokesman Tim Wagner
said.

American is also reducing the amount of reserve fuel on domestic flights.

The FAA requires pilots to plan for 45 extra minutes of flying in case of
delays or the need to divert to another airport. But American's pilots last
year carried enough reserve fuel, on average, for 99 minutes of extra
flying. The company's pilots, who make the final decision about how much
fuel they need for each flight, have recently gotten that figure down to 90
minutes, producing about $19 million in savings for the year, Wagner said.

Other carriers have slimmed down by pulling heavy ovens and serving trays
off of flights where no hot food is served, and by reducing the amount of
water and ice they carry.

"I think that $40 oil is a wake-up call," said Gary Kelly, the chief
financial officer at Southwest Airlines Inc., which is in better financial
shape than most airlines because it has hedged 80 percent of its fuel costs
in the mid-$20-a-barrel range.

Even so, "the opportunity to reduce our fuel costs is still there," said
Kelly, who estimated Southwest would improve its fuel efficiency by 1
percent a year through 2006, excluding the impact of new planes being
delivered during that period.

In addition to flying at slower speeds and encouraging pilots to reduce
their fuel-reserve margins, Southwest has recently lowered the fuel
consumption of its Boeing 737 jets by an additional 3 percent to 4 percent
by placing extensions, designed to reduce drag, on the wingtips.

Other steps airlines are taking before and after flights to reduce fuel
spending include:

   Using one engine while taxiing on runways.

   Plugging into electric generators at terminals to keep planes powered
between flights.

   Filling up their planes tanks in cities where prices are lowest (so long
as the extra weight does not undermine the benefit gained by purchasing
cheaper fuel).

This isn't the first time airlines have tweaked operations in response to
higher fuel costs. Serious attention was paid to fuel efficiency after the
oil crises of the mid-1970s and early '80s.

Today the industry is far more fuel efficient due to better engine designs,
lighter raw materials and more sophisticated computer programs for planning
flight routes. Boeing's next jet, the 7E7 Dreamliner, is as much as 20
percent more fuel-efficient than its 767 models, which date from the 1970s.

Overall, the industry is 40 percent more efficient than it was 20 years ago,
according to a recent analysis by airline consultants at Unisys.


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