That is 39mpg for cars and 30mpg for trucks (good luck getting that with anything over a 1/2 ton and still having something left to pull a load). Anyway, that got me thinking about the last couple Southwest flights I've been on (I fly cheap). The planes were not even close to being full, and I'm sure I wasn't on the only plane that was empty...so, I started thinking. Southwest used 1.5 BILLION gallons of fuel in 2008
. Southwest has a fleet of planes with an average age of 10 years (my plane was 14 years old...I got bored and asked). So, why doesn't Uncle "O" go find out the waste of fuel a 10+ year old aircraft uses flying empty verses a more modern fleet with better loads. I'm not against seeing improvements in our mileage, but really, how 'bout looking at the big picture and look at aircraft, trains, ships, semi-trucks and stick them with the same type of % improvements the auto industry seems to get hammered with.