Flights Direct

Different airlines around the world are beginning to adapt the policy of slowing down flights in order to save fuel. By extending the flight time of a long-haul flight by just a few minutes can save airlines millions in a year.

American airline Southwest has announced it expects to save $42 million this year by slowing down its flights so that each flight takes one to three minutes longer.

Other American airlines have also been using this tactic for some time – Northwest Airlines says that extending the flight time of a Paris – Minneapolis flight by eight minutes, saves 162 gallons of fuel, and $535 per flight. The flight is operated with an average speed of 532 mph instead of the normal 542 mph.

The figure alone is not very impressive, but it quickly mounts up to very high figures.

But saving fuel by slowing down is not a simple task, if planes slow down too much they actually use more fuel.

Some airlines say that the tactic is useless, and that there are schedules to protect. There are many other ways in which airlines are attempting to save fuel these days as the price of oil keeps soaring higher and higher.
 
Improving the aerodynamics of planes in order to make fuel use more efficient is one of the common ways of cutting fuel usage.

Every summer, low-cost airlines along with the traditional airlines add to their flight routes to the sunshine. The latest additions to summer holiday flight routes have been announced by easyJet – the airline has started daily flights from Manchester to Malaga, and a twice weekly service to Crete.

There are even more options from London Gatwick, as a daily service to Montpellier, twice weekly service to Mykonos and once a week services to Ajaccio and Bastia also start operating.

The airline expects 230,000 extra passengers on these routes over the next 12 months.

David Osborne, easyJet UK General Manager, says people now have the chance to take advantage of the “low fares to the summer hotspots across Europe, with the care and convenience when flying from your local airport.”