Airlines Fretting Over New Fuel Laws

"Compare the 76-seat regional jets that are going in as DC9 replacements," McGraw said. "They are 50% more fuel efficient than the DC9s, yet they are probably less than half as fuel efficient as the 787s, which have the newest technology and have much lighter components."

It is worth noting that extremely full planes, now customary in the airline business, promote fuel savings. Today average loads, which used to be around 65%, are close to 80%. "That's one of the ways to be efficient, to get the right plane in the right market, although maybe the consumer doesn't appreciate it as much as we do," McGraw says.

Beyond buying new airplanes, most carriers are also adding winglets, using ground power units rather than jet engines to power aircraft at the gate, and using single engine taxis when possible. Winglets are extensions to plane wings that are meant to increase efficiency.

At Northwest, winglets are being installed on 10 Boeing 757s, at a cost of about $654,000 a set, while the switch to ground power units is producing an annual savings of about 3.5 million gallons of fuel, or 36,000 tons of carbon emission. Northwest has also bought a half dozen high-speed tractors, costing about $400,000 each, to substitute for jet engine power at key airports.

Beyond the obvious steps, carriers are being innovative, often due to suggestions from front-line employees. U.S. Airways(LCC Quote), for example, will replace paper manuals carried in the cockpit with electronic flight bags and logbooks, saving about 100 pounds of weight on every flight. Already, U.S. Airways says it saves 5.2 million gallons of fuel annually due to conservation measures.