In this video, Hal talks about flight economics.
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So if flying higher is better, why doesn't everybody do it all the time? Why do the airlines level off in the 30s? Well consider this, aside from regional jets, airliners are big heavy airplanes. A fully loaded transoceanic flight may not be able to climb any higher than 30,000 feet initially but as the flight continues and fuel is burned off, it will continue to climb to get to that more efficient altitude.
Next time you're on FlightAware take a look at that 777 flying from Los Angeles to Tokyo, and see how the altitude changes across the flight.
For domestic flights, it's more about the cost index, which is a metric that airlines use to plan their flights to optimize the fuel, the cost of the pilots and crew, the cost the airplane itself versus the time it takes to fly.
Remember you traded a little bit of speed for a little bit of fuel efficiency. For some airlines that doesn't make sense. You need to go a little bit faster to make your schedule or to prevent passengers from missing their connections. Or, if you're flying with two dozen crew members on board like a heavy transoceanic flight, you might need to get there a little bit faster because fuel isn't the most important consideration at that point.
Like I said, for most owner-flown airplanes fuel is the primary concern. That's what costs the most, it makes sense to go a little bit higher. Keep climbing, every little bit helps.
27 мар 2018
