Southwest Airlines may not own a plane with a headrest infotainment system, but it's still far and away the most enjoyable commercial flight you'll find in the US of A (save for
Virgin America, naturally). Granted, we'd like to see
in-flight WiFi offered on a few more of its flights (read: 100 percent of them), but hey, we'll take free checked bags and friendly employees any day of the week. We'll also take fuel savings and environment stewardship, both of which Southwest is aiming to give us by creating the planet's first "green plane." By utilizing recyclable InterfaceFLOR carpet, weight-saving seat covers and life vest pouches, a lighter foam fill in the seats and aluminum (as opposed to plastic) seat rub strips, the newfangled Boeing 737-700 ends up some 472 pounds lighter than a conventional one. The savings? 9,500 gallons of jet fuel per year. We're not sure when the bird is expected to take her first voyage, but here's hoping a few others are hatched in the near future.
[Via
DailyFinance]
Read - Southwest press release
Read - China View's fuel calculations
posted October 25th 2009 12:11AM
Southwest didn't "build" anything. Boeing built this plane. The interior was simply refreshed. Marketing ploy...
A green plane would be one that flys on Ethanol or Electricity and Batteries instead of Kerosene fuel.
@charbax
Seeing as how we are just starting to get "green" cars, I don't think a "green" plane will be arriving anytime soon. This plane is an improvement (environmentally) over previous planes, so at least they are heading in the right direction.
Boeing builds the plane's shell but the airlines outfit them to their specs, so Southwest did the interior which is why all the weight savings are from the inside (like teh chairs, etc...)
M
I don't think Southwest refreshed the interior as much as they HAD it refreshed by Boeing.
Most airlines don't do it themselves.
InterfaceFLOR designed the lightweight carpeting/flooring but the installation was performed by Southwest's maintenance crews in 2 hours, not by Boeing.
@Engadget
Why the hate? Are you that touchy that you can't take a little criticism. Get off it please.
@BigDaddyM
Boeing actually furnishes all the interior components at the time of building. Southwest just chooses which setup they want. But was this customized by Southwest after it was delivered, or did they retrofit an old plane, or did Boeing actually install these 'green' components?
...and they could save even more weight by simply using less paint.
Imagine how much fuel they can save if Americans started to lose some weight.
472 punds? That's like two overweight people.
LOL, well, if they have more than average obese people in flight, this would apply
You mean one overweight American.
It adds up when you consider how many flights this plane will make in it's lifetime
I thought the same thing. But it adds up to at least $30,000 a year, just for this plane. And if Southwest converted its entire feel, that would equate at to a savings of $16,410,000 (if a gallon of jet fuel costs $3).
Further, Southwest's net income was only $178 million in 2008. So, $16 million would be almost 10% of their NI.
Yeah- no kidding. Airlines should simply start charging by pound.
They would actually save more than this by imposing a weight limit on the passengers. And (depending on how much fuel is burned during takeoff) perhaps by flying shorter segments and thus, carrying less surplus fuel during the first half of the flight.
Or by going to headrests on seats that are 2 inches shorter, or by eliminating the refreshment cart, or by reducing the service crew by 1, or by.... umm... NOT allowing each (x150) passenger to carry an extra 50 pounds of luggage for free. Start charging for luggage again and use half the fee to buy carbon offsets, it would have a real impact on fuel usage by getting people to travel lighter, and would have a real PR impact by claiming "we're green by planting 10,000 trees per flight" or whatever.
This is just plain dumb, nothing but PR. Move along...
@ jay
Your just an idiot. Shaving off nearly $500 lbs from a passenger aircraft is pretty damn impressive. I mean they might handle like public tran. buses compared to more nimble aircraft (fighter jets, etc.) but they still have to be aerodynamic enough to, oh I don't know, fly efficiently to a make profit without charging their customers the price of a first born child.
Solid Improvement.
@ Jay - LOL, Why don't you start your own airline that treats its passengers like you suggest and see how fast it goes out of business! Your just another clueless hippie... go hug a tree!
@slick and wm: for calling people "idiot" and "clueless", maybe you should take a look at your own posts. It's "you're".
its funny, because i clicked on "comments" to write the exact same thing. its the same as when car manufacturers take everything out of their supercars to save 150 lbs, and sell it for $50k+ more. i definitely know a few (read: a bunch of) people that weigh 150lbs more than me..
Still, KLM is going to charge passengers $50 for every second piece of baggage (to the US and Canada only). Airlines are willing to do anything to squeeze that little extra money out of a flight so Jay's reasoning might actually become reality. Please note - I also disagree with it completely, I'm just saying that airlines might have no other choice in the future with fuel prices spiking and declining demand.
But what I'm really frustrated about is the fact that tax-free shopping is BEFORE the flight instead of after. I can't think of any reason why this is beneficial for anything. It's just a waste of fuel, really.
Instead of charging more for overweight people, they should just raise prices and charge less for skinny people. I'm as skinny as they come, and if they did this I'd be more likely to fly with them.
This is so ridiculous and Southwest is so full of shit!!! One of these planes weighs 84,000 pounds (without fuel or cargo) so making it 472 pounds lighter is only about one half of 1% of the plane's total weight (again, empty). Statistically, there is far more variation in total weight (plane + fuel + cargo) between one flight and the next, so what amounts to less than a quarter of one percent in total weight is completely negligible. I can't believe the gall of Southwest claiming that this is an environmentally friendly plane. Airplanes are about the worst polluters on the planet. While it is true that every little bit helps, this is so little that it is almost not even worth mentioning. I mean, that's like saying that it would have been much better if a guy was murdered by being stabbed on 19 times instead of 20. There's really no difference at all.
The energy savings will probably be negligible with all the fat people we have here. I KNOW SOMEONE FAT IS READING THIS. YES I'M TALKING TO YOU FATTY.
hahahahaha
That really hurts me. I'm going to go eat my feelings. Thanks, normie jackass :(
I certainly hope there are some penalties for people who are very overweight (like.. 250lb +). Charge them more for airline, healthcare, etc.
They can shave of weight from the plane by making the seats smaller. Then fat people can't even fly until they loose some weight.
Wow, shaving 472lbs off a car is quite an achievement- but on a 737 thats nothing.
This is surely a step in the right direction, but I wouldn't call it a "green" plane just yet... "less gray" is perhaps more accurate.
Calling less-harmful (but still harmful) things "green" (read: echoing the marketing hype) can contribute to diminished environmental concern among the public.
It's mostly blue.
FAIL
shut up, shut you face
That's so enemies can't see it from... below... when flying upside-down? O.o
How is 472lbs. significant at all? not serving any liquids during flight would save more weight. Since 1 gal weights around ~8lbs, they would just need to reduce their drinks by 59 gallons. LOL
What makes you think they haven't already done that too? That's the easy kind of stuff that the airlines do first. And how is saving the expense of 9,500 gallons of jet fuel a year not significant? Money is money... As the one article says, if you conservatively figure $2 gallon for jet fuel that's $19,000 a year saved. Is that kind of money significant to you? I'll bet it is to SW Airlines. If SW were to make these improvements to each 737 in their fleet as they come up for refit (~540 planes) they would eventually be saving over 5 million gallons of jet fuel a year. I'd call that significant.
Nobody wants them to stop serving drinks...
But yeah, 472 lbs isn't much on an airplane that weighs 154,000 lbs.
Actually the 154,500 lbs is the maximum takeoff weight fully loaded. The dry weight of the 747-700 itself is 84,100 lbs and 472 lbs represents a .56% weight reduction. As far as weight reductions go that's not bad for an existing plane undergoing a needed interior refit.
i don't know the numbers, but i'm guessing 9,500 gallons is nothing compared to what these planes eat in a year. probably just a publicity stunt.
So nothing is better than something...?
in terms of being "green" it's pretty insignificant - if the pollutants/greenhouse gasses created by burning a gallon of jet fuel are similar to those of burning a gallon of gasoline, this is similar to taking about 20 cars of the road (per plane). even if southwest did this for their entire fleet, that's pretty piddling. and in terms of an economic standpoint, it's possible they spent more on doing this than they'll make up in fuel costs.
If all the planes of all the airlines did this, I bet it would make a huge difference.
i wonder if the "new-plane smell" is anything similar to a new-car smell...
I think that for every 1 cent change in fuel prices it costs(or saves) all the air companies together 1 billion $? Maybe that's wrong, haha. Someone fact check me.
The Human brain is pre-disposed to believe in the fanciful and unverifiable. Hence throughout history one believes in the witchdoctor, fate, or the shibbloleth of Man Made Global Warming; sadly those who would believe in this lie will hobble the rest of the country with their green religion.
The hilarity of the new green inquisitors replacing the orthodox religious right would be hilarious, were it not for the coming economic, intellectual and technological stagnation...
...what makes me laugh, as I've already made mine and converted a significant portion to gold bullion, is how those who hate on religion adopt a cause that they fervently advance as surely as any Inquisitor of the Spanish period, or any Iman of today...
...most of us who can see the coming fall are ready...and we will raise a glass as you all burn. :))
"The Human brain is pre-disposed to believe in the fanciful and unverifiable."
Are you not religious? I'm not, and I'm not implying that you implied that you are, but I am asking for clarification.
" ... sadly those who would believe in this lie will hobble the rest of the country with their green religion."
What do you do for "the country," pray tell?
"The hilarity of the new green inquisitors replacing the orthodox religious right would be hilarious, were it not for the coming economic, intellectual and technological stagnation..." I'm sorry, "coming economic... stagnation?"
Am I wrong, or has it long been here (in America)? How exactly are concerns about global warming and strides toward increased fuel efficiency responsible for, among other things, the failure and bailout of General Motors?
" ...what makes me laugh, as I've already made mine and converted a significant portion to gold bullion, is how those who hate on religion adopt a cause that they fervently advance as surely as any Inquisitor of the Spanish period, or any Iman of today..."
I'm sorry, but it's not quite clear what exactly you've converted to gold bullion. You're not talking about World of Warcraft, are you? Probably not. So, how did you make your millions? Better yet: how did you protect it from those thieving, destructive environmentalists? Bonus question: What do you make of Warren Buffet's wind power effort?
" ...most of us who can see the coming fall are ready...and we will raise a glass as you all burn. :))"
Help me! I'm ready to learn! I don't want to burn! Save me, my lord! As you pointed out, "the Human brain is pre-disposed to believe in the fanciful and unverifiable," and, because I want to ever increase my intelligence and knowledge, I do hope that you can verify "the coming fall," and point out ways in which I can avoid it. So far, you haven't verified "the coming fall," and you've only implied that one way to stop it might be to oppose Southwest Airline's purchase and use of a more efficient jet liner.
P.S. What will be in the glass you'll raise as we all burn? I'm really into Brachetto d'Acquis these days, but I wonder if that's a good thing to drink during the burning. Would a Flaming Moe be more apropos? Please advise.
P.P.S. How can "the hilarity" NOT be hilarious?
"technological stagnation" wtf? I'd say the green movement has actually spurned technological innovation. We're moving away from stagnated technology like coal power and the combustion engine and instead developing the alternatives, causing new strides in solar power, wind power, battery tech, electrical engine tech etc.
Since when Southwest make planes?
472 pounds, or approximately 0.3% of the total weight of a 737-700. Excellent.