Miniature spoons to save aircraft fuel

Many airlines shrink the size of spoons for passengers and remove magazines to reduce the aircraft's weight. That measure helps them save a lot of fuel.

Airlines are taking drastic measures in an effort to reduce aircraft volume to save fuel costs.Photo: Telegraph.

The global economic crisis is pushing many airlines into a loss. The aviation industry must find ways to cut costs, including fuel savings as one of the top priorities. Reducing aircraft volume is one of the ways to save fuel.

Paul Steele, environmental director of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said Japan Airlines showed everything on the Boeing 747 in a school gym to see what should be Be thrown away to reduce the aircraft's mass. Finally, they decided to shrink the size of the utensils for eating (including spoons). Northwest Airlines in the United States has similar measures.

'The weight of each spoon is very small, but with a Boeing 747 carrying 400 people, shrinking them can help reduce the aircraft's weight by a few kilograms. That level of decline is not worth it, but with hundreds of planes one can save a lot of money in a year, ' Steele said.

Many other airlines have the idea of ​​throwing away journals on flights and replacing them with tax-free goods inventories (much lighter than magazines). 'Airline companies are about to make a revolution about what they will put on airplanes,' Steele said.

In the future aircraft seats will be up to 30% lighter than today because manufacturers replace aluminum alloys with ultralight. Ultra-durable carbon fiber is being used in the manufacture of personal screen for passengers to reduce their volume in half.

Initially many airline ideas came into being due to the urgent need of cutting fuel costs. But now they become important in the context of the public wants the airline to cut carbon emissions.

During IATA's annual plenary conference in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) on June 9, there were 226 leading airline companies committed to cutting carbon emissions to zero by 2020, even if The number of aircraft they use increases.

Many airlines are studying the possibility of using biofuels (non-carbon) during flights. IATA said its members will try to make biofuels 6% of the fuel that the aircraft uses before 2020.

Several airlines - such as Virgin Atlantic, Continental and Air New Zealand - have conducted biofuel trials on passenger aircraft. Scientists predict that biofuels can be officially accepted next year. They are of similar quality, even higher, traditional kerosene gasoline. However, because the cost of producing biofuels is higher than kerosene, they will not be widely used before 2015.