Airlines are always looking for ways to lower their emissions, both to meet their climate goals, and also to reduce costs (after all, less fuel burn leads to savings). Along those lines, EasyJet has just introduced an interesting initiative, which shows how a little change can make a big collective difference…
Continue reading: EasyJet Rolling Out Lighter Paint To Reduce Fuel Burn
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Just, no. Cannot take this seriously until a full, truthful description is made of the repainting process, including all chemicals used, their origins, how far they were transported, by what means, the whole carbon footprint of the repainting exercise. Then, a full explanation on the rationale for repainting the plane now instead of later, or not at all. Also let's please disclose the projected lifespan of the lighter coating, compared to the previous type. American used to leave bare metal over much of the fuselage; now they paint the entire plane. Discuss? The actual content of the new coating is only a small factor in the carbon footprint of the repainting exercise. Let's be skeptical about these kinds of greenwashing PR exercises.
I wonder what “fat tax” America is paying for flying around at a 43% obesity percentage. Especially compared to Japan that is 4%.
Some quick AI number crunching shows 4-6 BILLION gallons would be saved for the big three alone if passengers were average Japanese weight as opposed to American weight. Flights could be incredibly cheaper, or alternatively, profit margins would 3-5x. Wild.
Hope everyone does well with their New Years fitness goals.
I was dubious of that number, but got a similar value. The average American is about 10kg overweight and ~800B passenger miles are flown. The marginal fuel use per kg mile is ~0.002kg. 10 x 800B x 0.002 = 16B kg of additional fuel or ~4 billion gallons.
@DenB I agree with you on the whole re ‘PR greenwashing’, but a few things in your comment stand out.
-easyJet itself says it is trialing new paint as aircraft would normally be scheduled for repainting, so they aren’t repainting planes “now” instead of later. Aircraft are typically repainted during D checks which occur every 5-8 years depending on aircraft cycles and hours. That jives with their expectation of this taking to 2030. I would imagine if it becomes apparent sometime between now and then that the new paint sucks for whatever reason, they’ll stop.
-American changed their livery in part due to the increasing quantity of carbon composites in aircraft parts. If they wanted to keep the silver exteriors, they would have had to paint the entire aircraft silver. Shiny paint has a lot of metallic flecks in it, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that metallic flakes are heavy.. Thats a driving reason only the engine cowls of Virgin America (RIP) aircraft had the super-sparkly red paint, while the tails were painted a more flat red and the bodies white.
Yeah keep in mind this only half the market. For the entire United States could be pushing 8-12 billion gallons.
"EasyJet Rolling Out Lighter Paint To Get Nice Stories Written About Them"
ftfy
Why don't the cargo planes start using engine heat to heat the cargo hold. We all know hot air is lighter than cold air. If new paint saves money for a 60 pound difference, what will a hot cargo hold in a cold high altitude do? Apparently silly ideas are now being funded.
AA for the longest time had planes unpainted to save on fuel. But that isn’t possible with the new composite material planes.
There’s one country you didn’t factor, the only one with a higher obesity rate.
Anyways, that’s trivia.
Let’s talk real life / real savings…
Cost of PR for this greenwash already exceed the life time savings and environmental impact.
Let's burn even more energy to tell the world we're saving a little energy.
No doubt North America has an obesity problem, but at average weight, the savings would be maybe half that, since the average American is also taller than the average Japanese (and hence heavier even at same BMI and body fat %).
Maybe US airlines should lobby against the processed food industry as a way to improve their profitability.
Meanwhile, Lufthansa Group adds a 1000+ KG weight to their Swiss A330's because their new first class is also heavier.