Fuel Smart

What is Fuel Smart?

The rising cost of jet fuel has seriously affected the profitability of all industry carriers. A one-cent increase in the price of a gallon of fuel translates into an additional $25 million annual cost for American Airlines. Although the price of fuel has fluctuated during recent years, average annual prices have been trending upwards since 2003, making conserving fuel more important than ever before. 

As high fuel prices continue to plague the industry, American has been aggressively looking at every potential savings. At the end of 2010, American’s employees produced a 123 million gallon annual fuel savings rate through Fuel Smart, the company’s fuel conservation program. At the 2010 average jet fuel price, this is equivalent to more than $285M.

Launched in 2005, the Fuel Smart program is an employee-led effort to identify, evaluate and implement ideas which safely reduce the company’s fuel consumption and continues to be a proactive step the company is taking to combat rising fuel prices. The program celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2010 and reached the milestone of more than 500 million gallons of fuel saved by employees since the program began.

Fuel Smart also contributes toward American’s environmental efforts – reducing carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by more than 2.6 billion pounds annually. CO₂ is the primary emission of concern in climate change and American is committed to decreasing the amount of pollutants emitted by its aircraft fleet.

The Fuel Smart team prioritizes ideas that offer the greatest fuel savings benefit, ease of implementation and engagement with front-line employees. These ideas already have a huge impact and include:

• APU USE REDUCTION: While more than 95 percent of American's total fuel burn is consumed in flight, it took an additional 42 million gallons to power ground operations for the airline in 2009. Most of this fuel is used to regulate the temperature on each plane while it is parked in the gate through the plane's Auxiliary Power Unit (APU). One of the main uses of this power source is to provide the energy needed to keep planes at a comfortable temperature once they are on the ground and taxing to the gate. APU Usage Reduction currently saves 2.4 million gallons of fuel and reduces CO₂ emissions by more than 50 million pounds annually, with significant potential for additional savings.


• SINGLE ENGINE TAXI: Pilots using only one engine during taxiing (when safe and operationally feasible) saves 2.8 million gallons of fuel and reduces CO₂ emissions by nearly 60 million pounds annually, with potential for additional savings.


• ENGINE WASH: By removing contaminants from engine compressors with hot water, the aircraft engine wash program in operation at multiple airports is saving 7.2 million gallons of fuel and reducing CO₂ emissions by 152 million pounds annually.


• WINGLETS: The 737 and 757 installations have been completed, while the 767-300ER installations are continuing. By the end of 2010, the annual rate of savings from this initiative reached 35.4 million gallons, which will also reduce CO₂ emissions by 747 million pounds.


• HIGH SPEED TOW TRACTORS: American towed nearly 27,000 aircraft between terminals and maintenance hangars in 2010.  This towing process produced an annual rate of fuel savings of 3.6 million gallons, which reduced emissions by 76 million pounds of CO₂ annually.


• AIRCRAFT OPERATING EMPTY WEIGHT (OEW) REDUCTIONS:Removing just one pound of weight from each aircraft in American’s fleet would save more than 11,000 gallons of fuel annually. For additional perspective, if 100 pounds of unnecessary weight was removed across the fleet, it would save more than 1.1 million gallons of fuel each year. Since the Fuel Smart program began in 2005, employees have suggested and implemented several key weight reduction initiatives which have played a large role in reducing fuel burn, including:
  
  
  • Removing unnecessary items from cabins such as old phone equipment, logo lights, galley tables, magazine racks and razor outlets – the sum of which saves more than 1.1 million gallons of fuel year after year.
  
  
  • Replacing B757 and MD80 existing cargo liners with lighter-weight materials save nearly 1.4 million gallons of fuel annually.
  
  
  • Retiring approximately 19,000 catering carts onboard aircraft, replacing them with newer, lighter models save 1.9 million gallons of fuel annually.
  
  
  • Reducing unnecessary potable water on the MD-80, 757, 767-300ER and 777 fleets, while retaining an ample supply for passengers and crews, helps save American 2.4 million gallons of fuel annually from this water weight reduction.

In 2010, a partnership between American’s Fuel Smart and Veterans Initiatives teams was established with Air Compassion for Veterans (ACV), a non-profit organization which helps active and retired U.S. military veterans and immediate family travel for medical, counseling and rehabilitation needs. Through this partnership, a portion of Fuel Smart savings is contributed to ACV, which arranges and provides for travel needs that may otherwise go unfulfilled for wounded warriors and their family. In 2010, a total of $409,513 was contributed to ACV by American’s employees through Fuel Smart savings, making possible nearly 1,000 flights for those who have sacrificed in defending our country.