Airline companies offering the option to its passengers to pay for the carbon offset their airplanes emit isn’t exactly news but Virgin Airlines dropping $1.4 billion for ultra fuel-efficient engines is. Currently airplanes are flying on fossil fuel which is not only a resource that will eventually run out, but also fuel that pollutes the environment. Virgin could resort to using biofuel but considering its relative infant stages, it looks like Virgin will not play the waiting game, which is why they have decided that dropping $1.4 billion on ultra fuel-efficient engines is the way to go here.
The engines are developed by CFM International and can reportedly save up to $1.6 million in fuel costs annually per airplane, cut CO2 emissions by 15% and slash nitrogen oxide emissions by 50% and at the same time provide the airplane an extra 400 miles of distance covered. On top of that engine noise will be cut up to 15 decibels.
Granted that this means the airplanes will still require fossil fuel to be powered but due to the ultra efficiency, the planes will be able to travel further, use less fuel and reduce its emissions while waiting for the biofuel to play catch up. Bad news is that we will only see their fleet start using this new engines come 2016 but the good news is that since they’re saving so much on fuel, will those savings be passed on down to us customers?
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