United Airlines has added more fuel efficient aircrafts to its domestic flight schedules, which will begin flying between Houston and five cities beginning in June.
The aircraft, Boeing 737 MAX 9, features advanced technology winglets and fuel efficient engines which enable the planes to fly farther on less fuel, United says. The MAX 9 technology also reduces maintenance costs.
In other United news, the airline - along with the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) - recently announced they will invest a total of $1.43 million to purchase 26 new pieces of zero emissions ground support equipment, replacing older, diesel-fueled equipment at Chicago O’Hare. Grant funding for the project from the EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act – a total of $640,000 – will help O’Hare and United Airlines to save a total of more than 1.4 million gallons of diesel fuel and reduce emissions of CO2 by more than 16,000 tons (as well as other byproducts of fuel emissions).
United also uses biofuels to reduce traditional fuel use. In 2016, United began using a mixture of 70% traditional jet fuel and 30% biofuel, according to Weather.com.
Also in 2016, Lux Research said biofuels will be key to achieving the aviation industry’s pledge to cut CO2 emissions to 0.2 billion tons (GT) in 2050 — half the 2005 figure.
United says that since 1994, the airline has improved fuel efficiency by more than 34%.
