Fuel Efficiency Concerns Outweigh Perceived Safety

So much for "4 Engines 4 Long Haul." On Friday, Virgin Group's Sir Richard Branson announced he would avoid buying thirsty four-engined airliners in the future for Virgin Atlantic.

Reuters reports the airline will still fly its current fleet of 38 A340-300s, at least until the scheduled replacement of 15 of those planes with fuel-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliners. And the carrier's order for six Airbus A380 superjumbos isn't in peril, either.

As Virgin's older airliners are phased out, however, the carrier will replace them with twin-engine planes, which offer far better fuel efficiency, and in many cases equal carrying capacity.

Branson's airline originally hyped its selection of an exclusively four-engined fleet, saying passengers, staff and pilots preferred the extra margin of perceived safety of four engines, versus two. But these are different times... and Branson says Virgin must adapt.

"Global warming has become a priority, but it also makes good economic sense to be eco-friendly," Branson told reporters. "We've just announced the 787, which has two engines."

As ANN reported, Virgin is also collaborating with Boeing and enginemaker GE Aviation to develop biofuels, which could be used in the airline's fleet of four-engine 747s.

"We've said we will fly a jet engine on a 747 using biofuels sometime next year, people say the end of next year," said Branson. "But I believe we'll be able to bring that forward. We have to make sure it's economically vaiable to roll out across the Virgin fleet."

In addition to Virgin Atlantic, Branson also has smaller stakes in Australia's Virgin Blue, recent US upstart Virgin America, and Virgin Nigeria. Those airlines exclusively feature twin-engine narrowbody planes.

FMI: www.virginatlantic.com