Britons hit the breaks to save on fuel

Recent reports indicate that individual Britons and companies involved in the transportation industry are slowing down, in order save money on spiraling fuel costs. Coach drivers, for example, are now being asked to become accustomed to driving more smoothly in order to use less petrol, while railway operators have decided to have train drivers turn off the engine and just coast on downhill segments of routes instead. Moreover, ship captains have also been told to cut down on their speed and airlines across Europe have decided to ask pilots to steer the plane a couple of miles slower.

In the UK, easyJet and British Midland (BMI) have both introduced policies whereby pilots are required to reduce their cruising speed by approximately two percent, in an effort to save on jet fuel costs. Passengers aboard the plane, however, will never detect the difference, as this amounts to little more than flying around 3 miles per hour slower than usual. Many airlines around the world have adopted similar policies, including Air Canada, Brussels Airlines, Southwest and Air New Zealand. Interestingly, however, the one UK airline which has decided not to lower its flying speed is British Airways. Instead, BA has warned that it may have little choice but to increase airfares and the fuel surcharge in order to compensate for much higher operating costs.

www.ba.com