In the article Boeing Launches Long-Haul Passenger Jet, Boeing introduced its new plane. The 777-200LR "Worldliner" was produced to compete with the new British-made “Airbus” (The world’s largest commercial jet). Even though the 777 is capable of flying 9,420 nautical miles in one trip, and carry 101 metric tons, it takes a lot of gas to fuel these behemoths. I view these airplanes like the gas hungry SUV’s, starving an already gas dependent world.
Boeing stated the seat-mile costs of the 777 to be 15% to 18% lower than other models, but this is the optimal number of seat to gas per mile ratio. This sounds well and good, but just like the SUV’s, the plane will not always be full. For sometime the airlines have been in trouble, running empty flights and companies filing chapter 11. This is like a mom driving a Hummer; she hauls the kids once in a while, but the full use of the vehicle is rarely at maximum optimization. http://story.news.yahoo.com/newstmpl=story&cid=580&e=2&u=/nm/20050216/bs_nm/transport_boeing_dc
1 comment:
-1 for a poorly formatted link in Ralph's post.
There's a good philosophical question here for the ManEc student. Should businesses make the products that people want, or the ones that are better for society? If the answer is the former, then it is irrelevent how big or inefficient airliners or SUV's are - that is the buyer's problem.
Generally speaking, when you see a person or firm with excess capacity (like an empty plane or SUV), it is usually an indicator that there are big transaction costs in being left without excess capacity. For an airline, if their planes are always full on a route, they lose out on any high paying walk-up business. For a "mom with an SUV" the capacity to potentially carry around a bunch of kids, or stuff, is important.
Here's a thought: if the people who profess so much concern about the waste from people driving SUVs around pooled their money, they could subsidize the rental of SUVs. I'll bet there is a low enough rental price that would dissuade people from buying these. The fact that this sort of suggestion isn't even made in public discussion should tell you that waste may not be as big an issue here as controlling other people's choices.
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