For example, US-based Delta is studying the possibility of publishing separate manuals for the captain and first officer, so as not to hand out a nearly kilogram tome to each. In the cabins of several airlines, passenger seats are being replaced with lighter ones – this saves up to 5 kilograms per seat. American is even changing food carts – the new ones are 7 kilograms lighter. JAL is reducing the number of newspapers and magazines on board and has also replaced utensils. Water in lavatories may now run out by the end of the flight – airlines have started taking less. Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific has switched to lighter aluminum baggage containers, reports International Herald Tribune.
Airlines have started washing their planes much more often – this allows them to get rid of kilograms of accumulated dust and dirt. And when repainting an airliner, all previous layers of paint are now stripped off, which also add significant weight. It goes without saying that the paint and primer under it are of the highest quality - in aviation, safety cannot be compromised.
Changes have also affected the flight process itself. A number of companies have started flying slower, reducing cruise speed by several tens of kilometers per hour, which also reduces fuel consumption but does not affect schedules. Many carriers are looking for more direct routes, and some, when possible, are trying to plan for landing instead of standard approach patterns. Taxiing to the runway is now done on one engine instead of two, or even with a tug.
All these measures save a few percent of total fuel consumption. For major carriers with hundreds of aircraft, this reduces costs by tens of millions of dollars.
Russian airlines are not yet very concerned with such problems. For them, it's a drop in the bucket compared to the huge fuel losses from the inefficient air traffic management system, which forces them to fly circuitous routes and wait in long holding patterns for landing at major airports.
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