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Traditionally the cost per seat/mile is lowest on wide bodies and skyrockets as you get towards regional aircraft. The higher (per seat/mile) cost of operating
by lujim 11y ago
Traditionally the cost per seat/mile is lowest on wide bodies and skyrockets as you get towards regional aircraft. The higher (per seat/mile) cost of operating smaller planes is offset by the near poverty wages payed to regional airline crews.
Maybe someday small point to point aircraft will be economical, but we aren't there yet. Southwest has done pretty well operating outside of hubs mainly due to smart management that knows when to hedge fuel costs and a fleet composed of a single type of aircraft (737).
- ju-st 11y agoNo, narrowbodies have lower cost per seat mile because they weigh less per seat because they fly shorter routes (=less fuel and structures). Very small airplanes have the problem that many costs don't scale linearly like the wage for 2 pilots, structural weight, efficiency of combustion engines. I found this Wikipedia article interesting... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy_in_aircraft#Example_Values https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_economy_in_aircraft#Examp...
- lujim 11y agoYeah agreed. That chart is great, but it's not telling the whole story. If you take a 747-400, 757, 737, and a CRJ (1 fuel stop) move a full load of passengers 3000 miles the widebodies will have better seat/mile costs. That chart compares the seat/mile of a 737 going 1000 miles to a 747 going 6000 miles. If you flew a 737 6000 miles (with stops of course) the seat/mile cost would be huge. Similarly a Cessna 150 could get you a better seat/mile cost than a CRJ if you're going 30 miles. A 747-400 going 6000 miles nonstop will have tremendous first hour fuel burns because it's carrying... tons of fuel. Each extra pound of fuel you carry requires that you take on.... yup more fuel. It compounds.