A team of researchers has come up with a formula, crunched the numbers and figured out the relative fuel efficiency of 15 U.S. carriers.
The winner, based on 2010 numbers: Alaska Airlines, followed by Spirit Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. The worst: Allegiant Air, with American Airlines slightly better and AirTran Airways better than American.
There seems to be some correlation between average fleet age and fuel efficiency, as one would imagine since new models are usually more efficient than their predecessors. On Dec. 31, 2010, Alaska’s average fleet age was eight years and Spirit’s was less than four. Allegiant’s average plane was 21 years old and American’s was 15 at the end of 2010.
But other factors are taken into account in the methodology created at the Federal Aviation Administration’s National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research at the University of California, Berkeley. The rankings based on that methodology were then created by a non-profit group, the International Council on Clean Transportation.
The ICCT analysis evaluates “an airline’s fuel efficiency relative to both the mobility (straight-line passenger miles between origin and destination) and access (airports served and/or flight frequency) it provides,” The ICCT said in its Tuesday release.
“This approach permits a precise distinction between fuel burned to provide a given level of service and fuel burned as a result of inefficiencies, such as the use of older technology, circuitous routing, or taxiing with two engines instead of one,” it stated.
The ICCT study attributed only one third of the differences in fuel efficiency to technology such as winglets and higher-efficiency engines that typically are an indication of newer, more advanced aircraft.
“Factors such as seating density and load factor, ground operations practices like single-engine taxiing, and how well an airline matches aircraft capability with operational mission account for the remainder,” the ICCT stated.
Here are the rankings, based on 2010 domestic flying and using fuel consumption data submitted by airlines to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics:
|Rank||Carrier||Fuel efficiency score||Excess fuel per unit transport service|
“We have made significant investments in our fleet, technology and processes to improve our fuel performance, which is a key part of Alaska’s commitment to be the airline industry leader in environmental stewardship,” Alaska Air Group executive Keith Loveless said after the study’s release.
:”These sustainability efforts also help us keep our costs down in order to provide better value for our customers,” said Loveless, executive vice president and general counsel.. “We’re proud and gratified to see our efforts validated by such an independent and respected source as the International Council on Clean Transportation.”