United Airlines to demonstrate fuel-saving flights

Associated Press reports on United Airlines fuel-saving flight demonstrations this weekend.

United will fly a normal commercial route with passengers from Frankfurt to Chicago and back on Saturday. However these flights on Boeing 777s will be expected to save 3 percent of the fuel (around 940 gallons) normally used. This will be achieved by not staying at a precise altitude; which burns extra fuel to maintain.

This flight will drift up and down as much as 3,000 feet; [which] also lets them choose the best altitude depending on wind and other conditions, said Joe Burns, a United captain and managing director of technology and flight tests.

He said those small adjustments wouldn't make much difference on a short domestic flight, but they add up on an eight- or 10-hour overseas flight.

Read more here: United Airlines plans fuel-saving flight

Photo by Eric Risberg / AP file