Originally Posted by Moose
I guess if you took it in context that he was trying to explain a concept to maintenance workers, FAs, pilots, secretaries, and customer service agents, it was not too profound. Glad you were impressed though!
Did I take it out of context?
When you consider that it takes X amount of fuel to taxi from Gate 34B to the runway for takeoff, and Y amount of gas to taxi from the runway to Gate 17 after landing, I wonder if the Total Fuel Expended per Nautical Mile Traveled really is less for the shorter haul flying. Granted, fuel consumption at heavier gross weights is greater per time, but the longer flight should absorb the taxi fuel over more miles. It would be interesting to see a graph of Total Fuel Used relative to Nautical Miles ground distance flown to see what the actual optimum leg length is for minimizing fuel costs.
Now, had they really crunched some numbers instead of grabbing for the obvious, then I would have been impressed.
- The truth only hurts if it should -