Hi given an information from a reliable new source article (https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/business/worldbusiness/11iht-air.1.13628276.html), it was mentioned that "Every 25 pounds we remove, we save $440,000 a year,". I wonder the validity of the statement because it goes against basic math.
Here is what I got,
\$440,000/yr/25 lbs = $17,600/yr/lb
Let's say a passenger weight at 200 lbs, this means by removing one passenger out of the plane, an airline would save $\dfrac{\$3.5 million}{year \ person}$.
That means that one passenger should be paying more than that amount over the year, but if we think calculate that by using a ticket from L.A. to New York as an example, that's not the case (calculation shown below).
$ \dfrac{\$262}{person}$ $\times$ $\times$ $ \dfrac{4 flights}{day}$ $\times$ $ \dfrac{365 days}{year}$ = $\dfrac{\$380k}{year \ person}$
I know there must be something wrong in this simplistic calculation, but I couldn't figure out. I am hoping someone here could point that out (with a reference would be awesome).
Thanks in advance.