I never thought that paint could be so heavy! In an effort to save cash, Air Canada is stripping some of their aircraft of most of its paint. Leaving the “au naturel” polished aluminum to bare the brunt of the elements. According to Air Canada, the paint weighs 360 pounds and takes about 12 days to strip off the airplane. This results in a fuel savigns of $24,000 per airplane. With 45 Boeing 747s that can result in a total savings of $1,080,000 a year!
This just proves how tight profit margins are in the airline world! I personally think the new look is great! It’s a throwback to the old school airplanes from the 50s, where most of them were not painted. The full story and more photos, are available at aviation.ca