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British Airways' profit on the Concorde was an accounting trick. They took a 100% writeoff of all Concorde capital investments in 1979, and another 100% writeo

British Airways' profit on the Concorde was an accounting trick. They took a 100% writeoff of all Concorde capital investments in 1979, and another 100% writeoff in 1983. Write-offs are not charged against operating expenses, but show up as "Other expenses." This made the airplanes essentially "free." They still had maintenance expenses, but the capital cost was zero. And that's just the money that British Airways spent on it. The British and French governments also subsidized the project. Thus, looking purely at British Airways' accounting profit is ignoring the actual costs of the Concorde project. Most jetliners are more efficient than an SUV. It's not hard, because SUVs are so incredibly inefficient. The proper comparison is to other jetliners. The Boeing 747 gets about 100 passenger-miles per gallon. That's 5x as efficient as the Concorde, at 20 passenger-miles per gallon. When the Concorde was retired in 2003, Jet-A cost $1 per gallon. Today, aviation kerosene costs $3.50 per gallon.

bluedino 13y ago
>> Most jetliners are more efficient than an SUV. It's not hard, because SUVs are so incredibly inefficient. The proper comparison is to other jetliners. The Boeing 747 gets about 100 passenger-miles per gallon. That's 5x as efficient as the Concorde, at 20 passenger-miles per gallon. The Concorde was twice as fast - which is why it was worth a premium over a 747. Just like it costs more to send a package next-day than it does grown. It's also 'worth' the fuel penalty. Just like you car burns twice as much gas going 100mph as it does 65mph, but you get there faster so it could be 'worth' it if you're in an emergency, or poor planner. Speaking of efficiency, what does a Greyhound Bus or Amtrak train get as far as passenger miles/gallon?
- tanzam75 13y ago
  > Speaking of efficiency, what does a Greyhound Bus or Amtrak train get as far as passenger miles/gallon? The DOE has calculated normalized energy usage among the various modes to BTUs per passenger-mile. Data for 2011: http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_20.html http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/pub... Amtrak: 1628 Airlines (domestic): 2597 Airlines (domestic): 3519 Automobiles (short wheel base): 3898 Automobiles (long wheel base): 5479 Transit buses: 3343 This summary data must be interpreted with caution. "Intercity bus" does not get a listing, only "Transit motor bus." Long wheel base automobiles includes SUVs as well as minivans. Amtrak operations include both diesel and electric trains, and count only the actual electricity drawn -- not the heat required to generate that power. (Most of Amtrak's electric operations are in the northeast, which gets a lot of its electricity from nuclear and gas.) Interestingly, domestic airline operations are more efficient than international. This is likely due to the reduced fuel loads, increased load rates, and the greater efficiency of turboprops.
apsec112 13y ago
Those are totally reasonable arguments, but the original article didn't make them.

bluedino 13y ago

>> Most jetliners are more efficient than an SUV. It's not hard, because SUVs are so incredibly inefficient. The proper comparison is to other jetliners. The Boeing 747 gets about 100 passenger-miles per gallon. That's 5x as efficient as the Concorde, at 20 passenger-miles per gallon. The Concorde was twice as fast - which is why it was worth a premium over a 747. Just like it costs more to send a package next-day than it does grown. It's also 'worth' the fuel penalty. Just like you car burns twice as much gas going 100mph as it does 65mph, but you get there faster so it could be 'worth' it if you're in an emergency, or poor planner. Speaking of efficiency, what does a Greyhound Bus or Amtrak train get as far as passenger miles/gallon?

tanzam75 13y ago
> Speaking of efficiency, what does a Greyhound Bus or Amtrak train get as far as passenger miles/gallon? The DOE has calculated normalized energy usage among the various modes to BTUs per passenger-mile. Data for 2011: http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/publications/national_transportation_statistics/html/table_04_20.html http://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/pub... Amtrak: 1628 Airlines (domestic): 2597 Airlines (domestic): 3519 Automobiles (short wheel base): 3898 Automobiles (long wheel base): 5479 Transit buses: 3343 This summary data must be interpreted with caution. "Intercity bus" does not get a listing, only "Transit motor bus." Long wheel base automobiles includes SUVs as well as minivans. Amtrak operations include both diesel and electric trains, and count only the actual electricity drawn -- not the heat required to generate that power. (Most of Amtrak's electric operations are in the northeast, which gets a lot of its electricity from nuclear and gas.) Interestingly, domestic airline operations are more efficient than international. This is likely due to the reduced fuel loads, increased load rates, and the greater efficiency of turboprops.

apsec112 13y ago

Those are totally reasonable arguments, but the original article didn't make them.