Aircraft speed and fuel usage: Empirical estimates with an exploration of environmental speed limits

Abstract

This paper uses a Brazilian dataset to estimate the relationship between fuel usage and speed for jet passenger aircraft. This exercise appears to be unique, with prior evidence on the fuel-speed relationship coming entirely from engineering models. The regressions generate U-shaped fuel-speed curves like those from the engineering approach, focusing on groups of narrow-body aircraft types (NEO vs. pre-NEO), rather than individual aircraft models. The empirical estimates are used to evaluate the desirability of environmental aircraft speed limits, which would force planes to fly at a speed that minimizes fuel usage, thereby reducing carbon emissions but imposing longer flight times on passengers.