So I read this article yesterday in the New York Times about why summer travel this year will be a nightmare. Yeah, it's scary, and I am checking constantly, especially on Icelandair, because I'm hearing about not only fuel shortage problems but also issues with pilot pay. I will be flying them in July, so I'm hoping they have their issues straightened out by then.
At any rate, one of the things this article discussed was fuel consumption by the airlines. It pointed out something that I did not know, and that is that the airlines waste a crap-ton of fuel because of how they schedule flights.
U.S. airlines might be able to offset some of their higher fuel costs if they were more efficient, but airlines continue to schedule and fly more hours and use more fuel than necessary, every flight, every day. They continue to schedule flights using block time, which adds extra minutes to every flight, so that the carriers can claim to be more punctual than they really are. Using block time also means that air traffic control isn’t adequately prepared for what’s coming into airports at any given minute, leading to delays. Result? Even before the war, about one in every five flights arrived more than 15 minutes late.
It's made me rethink how I'm looking at this. Now I'm getting a little annoyed with the airlines because why don't they see this? Why do they continue to do something that is wasting all this fuel and costing travelers more money, not to mention the airlines? Inquiring travel minds want to know!
FYI, NYT article is unlocked.