Flights: How much fuel your plane consumes per second

State-owned oil marketing companies hiked aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price by ₹5,494.5 per kilolitre (1,000 litre), or 16.3 percent, to ₹39,069.87 per kl in Delhi. The sharp increase in jet fuel prices will increase the operating costs of Indian carriers at a time when they are still struggling to reboot operations after a two-month halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fuel cost for an aeroplane is ₹39.06 a litre.

As the state-run refiners increase ATF prices, the balance sheets of the airline companies will take a hit because ATF accounts for 35-50% of the cost of running an airline in India.

Airbus A321neo fuel consumption

To cover a distance of 1200 kilometres in two hours (assume Delhi to Mumbai flight), Airbus A321neo will fly at an average speed of 600 km per hour, which translates to 10 km per minute.

Assuming the flight has a sitting capacity for 192 people, it will guzzle 4.18 litre of fuel per kilometre, as data suggest. It will consume a total of 5,016 litres of fuel in the entire journey of 1200 kilometres. It means 0.683 litre of fuel consumption per second and 41.8 litres of fuel in one minute.

The plane will consume 2,508 litres of fuel per hour. An Airbus A321neo fuel capacity of 32,940 litre.

Boeing 747 fuel consumption

If an Airbus A321neo burns 0.683 litre per second, Boeing 747 uses approximately 4 litres every second, which translates to 240 litres per minute and 14,400 litre per hour.

For a 13-hour flight from Tokyo to New York City, Boeing 747 might burn 187,200 litres. According to the Boeing website, the 747 burns approximately 12 litres per kilometre. 747 can carry as many as 568 people. It can carry up to 238,840 litres of fuel.