Airlines worldwide are under pressure to reduce carbon emissions and fuel consumption, but environmental responsibility must be balanced with consumer satisfaction and that means shedding weight by removing onboard products from flights, like food and drinks, is not currently on the horizon.
A 2022 study by the Operations Subgroup of ICAO found that weight-reduction practices could save airlines up to 0,85% in fuel costs. These savings will more than double for flights partly using expensive Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
In terms of sustainability, a January article by Bloomberg found that the low-cost carrier business model of lowering weight to save fuel with thinner seats, no business class and crowding as many passengers as possible into aircraft with minimal leg-room was found to produce the best emissions metrics in air travel.
KLM recently began making use of AI to calculate how much food to carry on a flight to reduce weight and food waste. Delta Air Lines too identified aircraft weight loss as a key aspect of its sustainability practices in its latest sustainability report. So, while a great deal of resources and time is given to brainstorming methods to reduce aircraft weight, airlines have not yet done away with the extra weight of food and beverage options on short-haul flights.
Customer satisfaction is keyThe question of why we dont do away with food and drinks is a great one it would be super to reduce the weight in every which way, said Kirby Gordon , FlySafairs Chief Marketing Officer.
