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Flying more efficiently: joint impacts of fuel prices, capital costs and fleet size on airline fleet fuel economy

Author

Listed:
  • Zsuzsanna Csereklyei
  • David I. Stern

    (Arndt-Corden Department of Economics, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University)

Abstract

We investigate the factors that affect airlines’ choice of fleet fuel economy using plane- level data for 1267 airlines in 174 countries. Larger and newer planes are usually more fuel- efficient. Controlling for the effect of aircraft size and age, we find that the technically achievable fleet fuel economy improves with the size of airlines and the price of fuel and worsens with higher capital costs. The elasticity of fuel economy with respect to the price of fuel is between -0.07 and -0.13. We find evidence for regional differences in fleet fuel economy that are attributable to the adoption of distinct groups of technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Zsuzsanna Csereklyei & David I. Stern, 2018. "Flying more efficiently: joint impacts of fuel prices, capital costs and fleet size on airline fleet fuel economy," CCEP Working Papers 1810, Centre for Climate & Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    • Handle: RePEc:een:ccepwp:1810
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Annual Review 2020
      by noreply@blogger.com (David Stern) in Stochastic Trend on 2020-12-19 07:18:00
    2. Annual Review 2020
      by noreply@blogger.com (David Stern) in Stochastic Trend on 2020-12-19 07:18:00

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • L93 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Air Transportation
    • O14 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
    • Q40 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - General

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