How much fuel is consumed by airplanes than to cars?

Posted by  in Saturday, February 28th 2009   
Topics: Highest MPG    Tags: , ,
fuel7 How much fuel is consumed by airplanes than to cars? at Bestgasmileageblog.com
§V H§ asked:


Does anyone know the ratio of airplane fuel consumption to ground fuel consumption? Also, what the **** is wrong with people these days isn’t there a way to get better fuel mileage than 6-7 gallons per mile on an airplane, when you’re traveling thousands of miles at a time?

JDM engines

3 Comments

Robin D said in March 4th, 2009 at 1:42 am    

This isn’t a direct answer to your question but even if you think your saving gas by not taking a plane, that plane is still going to take off whether you book it or not, using all of that gas. This should give you a fresh look at this question. Srry for not directly answering it though.

kfaulk211 said in March 6th, 2009 at 5:58 am    

According to British Airways, a 747-400 plane cruises at 576 mph (927km/h), burns 3378 US gallons (12,788 liters) of fuel per hour, and carries 409 passengers when full:

If the plane is 75% full, one passenger is carried 52.2 miles for each US gallon of fuel burned (22.2 km for each liter of fuel burned).This fuel efficiency exceeds that of almost all cars, when the driver is traveling alone.

So, to answer your question, it is actually MORE fuel efficient to travel large distances in a place (Provided it is at least 75% full) than it is to drive the same distance. Depending on distance, it may also be cheaper.

You see, you have to factor in the number of passengers that can fit in a plane and determine passenger miles per gallon.

Doggzilla said in March 9th, 2009 at 12:42 am    

If you divide the fuel usage of a 747, 757, 767, 777, or 787 by the number of people they carry, they all get at least 55mpg per person. Most of them get over 70mpg per person.
Even small aircraft like a cessna 172 gets 15mpg at 115mph, and thats not a terribly economical plane. A Mooney m20 gets about 20mpg at that speed. On top of that, you can fly in a direct line with an aircraft, which saves way more time than you think. I did a flight from Florida to Virginia that I usually drive, and it cut off over 100 miles from the 600 mile trip. When I flew from Michigan to Massachusetts, It cut off something like 150 miles from a 850 mile trip.

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