FUEL SAVINGS NOT SO FLIMSY FOR UNITED AIRLINES

Every last gram that an airline can shave off the weight that its aircraft have to haul into the sky translates into a smaller fuel bill. Earlier this year, United Airlines changed the grammage of paper in its in-flight magazine — and reduced its annual bill for Jet A1 by some $290 000 (R4-million), Travel & Leisure reports.

Each copy of the magazine is now 28g lighter which, when multiplied across hundreds of seats and thousands of flights, adds up.

The airline didn’t stop there. It ended inflight duty-free sales, redesigned its bathrooms and aircraft seats and restocked the galley, shaving take-off weight with every cut.

The result? An almost $2-billion drop in annual operating costs.