Braking In Mid-Flight

The airline industry has been going through hard times, the worst since the 9/11 attacks. United Airlines, US Airways, Delta and Northwest have all reorganized under Chapter 11 filings in the past decade. But with default and bankruptcy risk on the rise, and jet fuel prices at over $3.50 a gallon this week, airlines are still scrambling to cut costs.

Fuel is the obvious target - costs on average now make up a third of airline revenue, up from 25 percent a year ago. AirTran's company filings show that fuel costs are costing the company nearly half of its revenue.

Now it looks like the industry is taking a cue from slow drivers, who know that keeping a light foot on the gas pedal adds a few minutes to the commute, but means getting more miles to the gallon.

Adding less than two minutes to each flight has saved JetBlue about $13.6 million a year in jet fuel. A couple months ago Southwest Airlines added between one and three minutes to each flight, and expects to save an annual $42 million in fuel. A Northwest Airlines flight to Paris slowed down by a measly 10 miles an hour, adding eight minutes to the flight and saving $535 worth of fuel.

It's welcome relief to those worried about the carbon footprint of their jet-setting ways. But not all airlines are jumping on board - American Airlines is holding out on changing their flight schedules.

It's the latest step in an industry-wide effort to boost efficiency - from improving aerodynamic design and air-traffic control systems, to using sustainable fuels and open rotor-propelled aircraft that reduce fuel burn. There's even talk of a global carbon-emissions trading system for aviation.

The U.N. International Panel on Climate Change says planes are 70 percent more efficient than they were 40 years ago. And an additional 40 to 50 percent improvement can be expected in the next three decades. But those are light fixes when considering that air travel is projected to grow by 400 percent in that same period.

(Photo by Frank Loohuis)