Airlines Losing Weight

Airlines are losing weight and saving millions as a result, according to Business Traveller magazine. The publication is saying that United Airlines is saving $300,000 a year by using thinner paper for its in-flight magazine while other airlines are using lighter food packaging, trimming seat weight and even ditching paper manuals in favor of tablets to shave ounces from their all-up aircraft weights. "Even an ounce, because if you are multiplying that across the thousands of seats and the thousands of flights we have, that ounce adds up and multiplies very quickly," Aaron Stash, United's head of environmental strategy and sustainability, told the publication.

Airlines have eliminated glass bottles in their food service, dropped duty free sales and those Wi-Fi based entertainment systems have cut hundreds of pounds worth of television monitors and servers from the payload. Lighter cargo containers and even switching to lighter food have been implemented.