Ever since the Wright brothers Orville and Wilbur successfully made that 12-second flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, aboard a 120-foot heavier-than-air machine on December 1903, many great strides have been made in aviation technology. Innovation continues, including the quest to produce fuel-efficient commercial aircraft.
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The commercial aviation industry has actually started on the quest towards efficient planes. Domestic flights of U.S. airlines, for instance, now average 0.54 aircraft-mile per gallon on jet fuel, an improvement of more than 40 percent since 2000. The fuel efficiency of widebody airliners used in international routes also registered an increase of 17 percent. Moreover, NASA has started testing a new jet engine tech that can improve a planes’ fuel efficiency by 4 to 8 percent.
Still, there is work to be done. As the population of air passengers booms, a grim scenario in terms of carbon dioxide emissions of the aviation industry would be shaping up without huge, imminent advancements in aircraft engineering. Statistics show that today’s global aviation industry is responsible for 2 percent of all CO2 pollution, but this can surge as much as 500 percent by 2050 if industry standards remain on the plateau.
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Rising fuel costs also serve as an impetus for plane manufacturers to boost R&D efforts towards more efficient aircraft. Fuel expenditures for most airlines have now become their largest expense, eating up 40 percent of their income. Although renewable jet fuel is now available, it is still more expensive than the petroleum-based kerosene it hopes to replace.
The aviation industry indeed faces the herculean task of delivering more fuel-efficient aircraft, but as this article asserts, it must be done, and with urgency. The crucial turnaround question for now is how long it will take for the aviation industry to get these planes flying.
Richard Earl Bucklew has more than three decades of experience working in the aviation industry. He is currently an airline captain for one of the world’s largest airlines. For more on Richard’s storied career, visit this LinkedIn page.
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