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I’m writing an essay as part of my GCSE HPQ and one of the statistics I need to base my research and answer on is the fuel consumption per mile or kilometre for a CEO A320.

It doesn’t have to take into account onboard weight like pax and luggage (however if there is someone with that knowledge it would be greatly appreciated) and it would be a normal flight, so both engines running around 50% or whatever cruise speed is and there are no faults with the engines.

Preferably I would like to know it on a plane with tip Fences on the wings but if someone knows the answer for blended winglets instead then it will still be greatly appreciated.

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    $\begingroup$ Are you running in a strong headwind, or tailwind? Typically fuel consumption is measured per hour, not "per mile"... $\endgroup$
    – Ron Beyer
    Dec 13, 2020 at 21:14
  • $\begingroup$ Please see this answer and let me know what is missing. The wingtip devices won't make much of a difference. $\endgroup$
    – Peter Kämpf
    Dec 13, 2020 at 21:51
  • $\begingroup$ @RonBeyer I just need a general estimate so still winds and 36,000ft. Thanks for the quick reply! $\endgroup$
    – James
    Dec 13, 2020 at 22:02
  • $\begingroup$ @PeterKämpf, yes, I’ve read that multiple times however I believe over longer distances it could end up being a big difference that I would ideally not have in my essay. Thanks for the help though. $\endgroup$
    – James
    Dec 13, 2020 at 22:05
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    $\begingroup$ Airline direct operating costs are expressed as $ per seat mile, which assumes still air, so his mpg requirement is quite expected. $\endgroup$
    – John K
    Dec 13, 2020 at 23:58

2 Answers 2

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For some general numbers, you can look at the fuel economy tables on Wikipedia. They tell you an A320 flying a 1000 NM flight at typical payload will burn 3.13 kg/km (11.1 lb/mi) of fuel. For a 2151 NM flight, it will burn 2.91 kg/km (10.3 lb/mi) of fuel.

As already indicated in the comments, the fuel burn depends on the payload (and to some extend of course the route length). To get more realistic values, you can use the Breguet equation as shown in Peter Kämpf's answer. When plugging in different values for the payload and flight range (all at 3t fuel reserves), you get these fuel burns:

A320 Fuel Burn

Since you asked about fuel consumption per distance, we can just divide by the trip distance and get this:

A320 Fuel per Distance

These numbers are somewhat smaller than the numbers from the Wikipedia table. The difference is likely caused by additional fuel burn for the takeoff and initial climb.

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Fuel consumption varies somewhat given for atmospheric conditions, total trip length (fuel load), aircraft weight, altitude etc. Also definition of "full" aircraft is somewhat ambiguous. Is it maximum weight, maximum zero fuel weight with unknown fuel load, full pax and no cargo etc... ?

But for A320 CEO, with heavy weight of 70t (max this would give approx. 7500kg fuel load with MAX ZFW load), CFM-56 engines and wingtip fences at ISA conditions FL350 at typical cruise speed of M.78 fuel consumption is 2557kg/hour. Corresponding TAS is 475kts, so in still wind conditions this equals to ground speed of 547 statute miles per hour.

Edit: to answer your question this is 4.67kg/mile.

Edit2: For "full" aircraft with light fuel load, giving total weight of 65t at FL380 consumption is 2385kg/hr. That gives you the range.

Jet fuel weights about 0.78kg / liter.

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