While walking through an American Airlines office, I saw a post that said, “It’s a fact — Replacing paint with decals can reduce aircraft weight by 400 pounds and, across the fleet, save approximately $19 million in annual fuel costs.” If that is true, why are all the other airlines slathering their planes with paint?
In this day and age when airlines are replacing silver ware with plastic utensils, redesigning their seats and drink carts using lighter materials, cutting back on fuel and angering pilots to save a few dollars, charging passengers for water and their first-checked-bag, why would an airline in its right mind cover planes with paint as though they were slopping BBQ sauce on Memphis ribs.
Any homeowner or renter who has carried a couple of gallons of paint back to their house from Home Depot or Lowe’s to put a new color on the dining room walls, knows that the stuff weighs a lot.
Ironically, American is the only major airline that flies unpainted planes. Their logos are painted on. I’m no expert, but if only the airline name and a few logos adds 400 pounds to a plane’s weight, it must be a lot more for the other airlines.
After digging around, I found an answer. It seems that the unpainted surface of the aircraft require polishing. Polishing requires labor. The labor costs of polishing the aircraft surface are roughly equal to the extra cost of fuel needed to carry the weight of the paint.
Though the weight of paint adds to fuel consumption, the fuel-cost savings offered by polished surfaces is outweighed by the cost of maintaining the polished surfaces. However, because this difference is a very small percentage of operating cost, many operators decide to paint or polish their airplanes based on marketing and environmental impact considerations. Some believe that a distinctive image can best be achieved with a full paint scheme, while others believe the image can be projected best by mostly polished surfaces. The availability of safe solvents and facilities that comply with environmental laws can also play a role in the choice between painting and polishing.
I know this may come under the category of relatively useless information. However, this inquiring mind wanted to know.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
