Numerous experts within the Lufthansa Group are already working at full stretch to keep fuel consumption – and thus the environmental impact of flying – as low as possible. Based on the acclaimed four-pillar approach to climate protection, they are continuously developing measures to raise the efficiency of the Group’s flight operations, and have already succeeded in decoupling the link between transport performance and fuel consumption. Since 1991 the Group has made 42.6 per cent of its additional transport services carbon neutral.
Lufthansa’s latest campaign to improve fuel efficiency involves weighing all the loose objects carried in the cabin of one of its long-range aircraft. Anyone who thinks taking note of the weight of torches, clothes hangars, magazines, trolleys, blankets and pillows is taking things a bit too far is, however, mistaken. This test is worth doing for two reasons. In the world of aviation, economy and ecology go hand in hand. Reducing the weight of items carried on each of Lufthansa’s passenger aircraft by a mere one hundred kg cuts the airline’s fuel costs by 2.6 million euros a year – and also avoids several tonnes of CO2 emissions.
As regards fuel efficiency: many people in Germany incorrectly estimate the average fuel consumption of aircraft to be ten times higher than it actually is, according to a recent survey conducted by the Wahlen Research Group.