Even to the uninitiated, the Boeing 747 has long been one of the most recognizable airliners in the history of commercial aviation. The iconic double-decker widebody quadjet burst onto the scene in the 1970s, with its humped fuselage instantly standing out among the otherwise rather similar ocean of single-decker narrowbody twinjets. A key advantage of the 747’s much larger size was its increased capacity.

This resulted in lower per-seat operating costs than other airliners of its generation, meaning that air travel became more affordable to the masses as a result. In the more than five decades that have passed since its first flight, the ‘jumbo jet’ has been through various iterations, with the most recent being the 747-8. Given its sheer size and four large engines, people may wonder how it fares in terms of fuel efficiency. With that in mind, let’s examine how many miles per gallon it gets.

The Boeing 747-8 Is Not The Most Efficient Of Vehicles

Credit: Vincenzo Pace

As we shall discuss in greater detail later in this article, calculating an aircraft’s (or, indeed, any given vehicle’s) fuel efficiency in terms of the number of miles that it travels per gallon of fuel consumed is a complicated matter, with various different mitigating factors. However, we can, at least, get a relatively clear idea of where the Boeing 747-8 stands by comparing its maximum range to its fuel capacity.

As Simple Flying explored in an article published in 2023, the passenger version of the Boeing 747-8, also known as the 747-8I for ‘Intercontinental,’ has a fuel capacity of 63,034 gallons (238,610 liters). According to Boeing, these aircraft have a range (based on a load of 410 passengers) of 8,900 miles (14,320 km). Dividing the latter by the former, we get a figure of just 0.142 miles per gallon.

The figure for the Boeing Business Jets (BBJ) version of the 747-8 is slightly more favorable. Indeed, based on an assumed capacity of just 100 VIP passengers, this private jet has a range of 10,213 miles (16,437 km), resulting in a figure of 0.162 miles per gallon. As for the 747-8F, which carries cargo, its range of 4,908 miles (7,899 km) and fuel capacity of 59,734 gallons (226,095 liters) give it a figure of 0.082 miles per gallon. But are these low figures as bad as they seem at face value?

Older Boeing 747s Had Worse Fuel Consumption Rates

Credit: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Those of us familiar with the world of motoring will know that most modern cars can be expected to travel tens of miles per gallon of fuel consumed. As such, these low decimal figures for the various different models of the Boeing 747-8 family may, understandably, come across as shockingly low. However, did you know that earlier generations of the ‘jumbo jet’ fared even worse in terms of fuel consumption?

Starting with the original model, the 747-100, Boeing’s data shows that this version of the iconic quadjet could typically fly for up to 5,320 miles (8,560 km). When this range is offset against the 747-100’s maximum fuel capacity of 48,445 gallons (183,380 liters), we get a figure of 0.11 miles per gallon. As such, the 747-8’s score on this front has improved by more than 29% from the oldest to the newest model.

Carrying on along Boeing’s impressive line of 747 models, we can see that, with a range of 7,550 miles (12,150 km) and a maximum fuel capacity of 52,410 gallons (198,390 liters), the 747-200B’s fuel efficiency comes to a healthier 0.144 miles per gallon, compared to 0.139 miles per gallon for the 747-300 and the 747-400. Meanwhile, the short-fuselage 747SP boasts a figure of 0.133 miles per gallon.

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Are Planes Really That Much Less Fuel-Efficient Than Cars?

Credit: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

As previously mentioned, the average car is, at face value, far more fuel efficient than any commercial aircraft, with the figures discussed above seemingly only making this point even more concrete. Indeed, previous analysis by Simple Flying found that a Boeing 747 would typically burn around 18,000 gallons of fuel in a five-hour flight. Meanwhile, a car averaging 50MPG would have to drive 900,000 miles to burn as much fuel, compared to approximately 2,500 for the Boeing 747.

However, one crucial area that means that aircraft do work out as being more fuel-efficient than might initially seem to be the case is their much higher capacity than any motor vehicle. As noted earlier in the article, Boeing‘s range calculations for the passenger version of the 747-8 were based on a load of 410 passengers, some 82 times as many as the five passengers that most cars are able to transport.

As such, when we multiply the 747-8’s figure of 0.142 miles per gallon by its capacity, for this purpose, of 410 guests, we get a much healthier figure of 58.22 passenger miles per gallon. Of course, a full five-seater car would only need to achieve around 11.65 miles per gallon to get a higher passenger miles per gallon figure, but, in reality, cars often only transport their driver. As such, in this regard, a fully loaded 747 can be more efficient than certain cars in the event of solo occupancy.

Aircraft Ultimately Need To Be Well-Filled In Order To Be Most Efficient

Credit: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

With that being said, much like how cars rarely travel with every seat occupied, airlines can’t count on every flight being completely full. As such, fuel efficiency in terms of passenger miles per gallon can be hit hard by lighter loads, meaning that carriers have to strike a careful balance when it comes to choosing which routes to deploy their larger aircraft on in order to optimise their performance.

For this reason, in its heyday, aircraft from the 747 family would typically be deployed on high-demand hub and spoke routes to and from their operators’ main bases. A good example of this was the transatlantic corridor from New York JFK to London Heathrow (LHR). This was the route that saw the 747’s first-ever passenger flight in 1970, and the type remained common on the corridor for many years.

High-capacity aircraft like the Boeing 747 are also well suited to hubs like London Heathrow, as their operations are heavily restricted by slot allocations. As such, airlines often have to spread their capacity across fewer flights, meaning that bigger planes suit them well. However, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 saw demand drop sharply, resulting in airlines such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic prematurely retiring their 747 fleets as they were no longer economically viable.

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Where Are British Airways’ Former Boeing 747s Now?

In July 2020, British Airways revealed that it would be retiring its 31 remaining Boeing 747s with immediate effect.

Which Other Factors Impact A Commercial Aircraft’s Fuel Consumption?

Credit: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Of course, a given aircraft’s fuel consumption won’t always be the same, and there are various different factors at play that can impact the rate at which a plane burns through its precious kerosene. Naturally, the passenger payload is an important factor, as we established earlier by noting that the normal Boeing 747-8 can’t fly as far as the Boeing Business Jets version, which carries around 300 fewer guests.

Another important aspect that has to be considered is the altitude at which a given aircraft is flying. Generally speaking, planes are more efficient when flying at higher altitudes, due to the fact that the air is thinner and results in less drag than when traveling lower down and closer to sea level. With that being said, aircraft must be careful not to fly too high, as to do so could result in an in-flight loss of lift.

The winds that aircraft encounter en route can also impact their levels of fuel consumption. Indeed, a paper from 2019 by researchers from the Poznan University of Technology and published by the Polish Scientific Society of Combustion Engines found that a 40 knot tailwind can reduce fuel consumption by 14% compared to when flying into a 40 knot headwind, and by 6% compared to still conditions.

In A Nutshell: The Boeing 747-8 In 2025

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Having established the factors at play when it comes to the fuel efficiency of any aircraft, and the specific performance figures concerning fuel consumption relating to passenger loadings on the Boeing 747, we should conclude by analyzing where the 747-8 finds itself in modern aviation. According to ch-aviation, there are currently 31 active 747-8Is, six active BBJ747-8s, and 89 active 747-8Fs in the world today.

As noted in the table embedded above, current scheduling data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, shows that, on a passenger front, the Boeing 747-8 is far from obsolete, with more than 10,000 flights scheduled with the type this year. However, this does represent a slight decline compared to the more than 12,000 that were penciled in in 2024. Still, with just three passenger operators left, it is clear that very few airlines can justify making the 747-8s difficult economics work.