By Daniel Puchert Partially state-owned telecommunications company Telkom announced in its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2025 that its ADSL subscribers had more than halved to under 30,000. According to the company’s operational data, ADSL lines decreased from 64,959 in March 2024 to 29,770. This 54.2% decline highlights that the legacy broadband technology is slowly approaching the end of the road. Telkom’s ADSL business peaked at the end of March 2016 with 1.01 million subscribers — two years after fibre upstart Vumatel broke ground in Parkhurst . What followed was a sharp decline in Telkom ADSL subscribers. Customers connected to its copper networks decreased by more than 500,000 over the next four years. This was partly driven by Telkom itself, which began actively switching off its copper network in some neighbourhoods. If it did not have fibre in the area, it would offer a “fixed line lookalike” wireless service that ran over its cellular ...
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How Much Fuel Does A Jet Aircraft Use During A Typical Flight?
Most of us take for granted the fact that airplanes just fly when we get on them. We often completely overlook the technicalities involved in achieving flight. And one of the key areas that few of us consider is the amount of fuel that is used by jet aircraft.
How much fuel does an aircraft use? Photo KLM
Amazing numbers
When you start to examine the numbers associated with this issue, they start to get pretty big, pretty quick. In fact, a jet aircraft uses a phenomenal, almost incomprehensible, amount of fuel. For example, a Boeing 747 burns up to one gallon of fuel every second. Yes, every second! That means that during a five-hour flight, a Boeing 747 will burn 18,000 gallons of fuel.
Compare that to the average motor vehicle. The average level of consumption for a new car is approximately 35 miles to the gallon, which means that in order to burn 18,000 gallons of fuel, which would be used in a single flight between New York and Europe, a car would have to travel more than half a million miles.
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Logistical challenge
So we can see straight away from these figures that fuelling jet airplanes is a serious logistical challenge. But the comparison is not as simple as it might seem initially. Every airliner is carrying considerably more people than the average car; in the case of the Boeing 747, it’s 568 in total. But even if the flight isn’t fully occupied, and only around 500 seats are sold, it becomes clear that air travel isn’t as uneconomical as it first appears.
When this is taken into consideration, a Boeing 747 is, in fact, burning only 0.01 gallons per person onboard for every mile that it travels. This means that the aircraft is actually achieving 100 miles to the gallon for every passenger. That means the jetliner is ultimately nearly twice as fuel-efficient as a car carrying one person. Of course, the figures change as more people travel in a car, which is why carpooling and other ecologically friendly forms of commuting are often advocated.
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Fuel is a significant operating cost for any airline. Photo: Delta Air Lines
Strict guidelines
When it comes to fuelling aircraft, there are strict guidelines in place because of the vast amounts involved. Airlines have to comply with regulatory procedures, which are broadly similar across the world. But under FAA and EASA regulations, the Captain of an aircraft is responsible for ensuring that it has enough fuel before taking off.
This fuel store comprises:
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Trip fuel
Diversion fuel
Reserve fuel
Contingency fuel
Taxi fuel
Additional fuel
The fuel required is carefully calculated before each trip. Photo: Airbus
There are strict stipulations in place for each of these; for example, contingency fuel is required to be at least 5% on top of the total fuel required for the trip.
Most aircraft have vast reserves for storing fuel, with the 747 capable of carrying over 52,000 gallons. Fuel costs for carriers can be pretty staggering, with one flight from London to New York costing around $25,000 in fuel. However, when averaged across the presumed 400 passengers, this only works out at $62.50 per person – hence the fact that air travel is affordable.
Visual Capitalist Elements | September 15, 2021 | 8:58 am Intelligence Australia USA Coal The Countries With the Largest Coal Reserves Cheap and abundant coal remains one of the largest sources of energy worldwide, even as governments set out goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. While jurisdictions in Europe and North America have been phasing out coal use in power generation, it has been on the rise in Asia. China and India are scrambling to provide electricity to a growing population and relying on coal power plants to meet demands despite the environmental costs. SIGN UP FOR THE ENERGY DIGEST Sign Up This infographic takes a look into the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2021 , and the 11 countries that make up 89% of the coal reserves globally. Coal Reserves, by Country While countries need to phase out coal by 2040 to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5ºC, consumption in key ...
The epic vessel is a 30-knot "battlewagon" designed to chase marlin, swordfish and sailfish. It's also decidedly lavish. By HOWARD WALKER Courtesy Vripack To hook the world’s biggest fighting fish, in the words of Chief Brody in the classic 1975 movie Jaws , “You’re going to need a bigger boat.” Privately owned fishing boats won’t come any bigger than this astonishing 171-foot super-luxury sportfisherman, set to claim the title of “World’s Largest Sportfish Superyacht.” Designed by Dutch naval architects Vripack , and soon to start construction at the Royal Huisman yard in the Netherlands, Project 406 as it’s currently codenamed, will be a 30-knot “battlewagon,” designed to chase marlin, swordfish and sailfish to the ends of the earth. “Project 406 is a sportfishing machine on steroids,” Vripack co-creative director Bart M. Bouwhuis told Robb Report . “It has the proportions of a typical American sportfishing ...
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