United Airlines Flight Saves 1,600 Gallons of Fuel Using Current Technology

Published November 17, 2008

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United Airlines recently demonstrated that carbon emissions and fuel usage can be drastically reduced by using simple fuel saving measures. During a flight from Sydney, Australia to San Francisco, California, the airline reduced CO2 emissions by 33,000 pounds and saved 1,600 gallons of fuel.

United Flight 570 departed from normal procedure by performing a smooth, continuous descent into landing, using up-to-the-minute fuel data, flying in normally restricted airspace, and getting priority takeoff clearance.

The flight was part of the ASPIRE (Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions) program — a partnership between the Federal Aviation Administration, Airservices Australia, and Airways New Zealand. Flight data from United will be used to evaluate the usefulness of various operating procedures in reducing CO2 emissions.

Certain fuel-saving tactics such as flying in restricted airspace are not practical for general use, but United's method of continuous descent could easily be adopted by other airlines to save fuel.

Photo Credit: Paul Sakuma, AP

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