<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tt7:
I have " an average of 400 pounds per (AA)plane" stuck in my mind - I think it was the subject of one of those 'letters from the Chairman' columns in the in-flight magazine (back in the days of Bob Crandall), explaining why the planes weren't painted (as others have pointed out, to save fuel).</font>
It was: I definitely recall reading that article (I think about five years ago). IIRC, the article pointed out four benefits:
(1) Savings on the cost of paint.
(2) Fuel savings (I don't know why, but $250,000/yr. comes to mind for fuel savings alone, although that seems like it might even be too low.)
(3) More efficient maintenance and inspections since certain tasks would require the fuselage to be stripped of paint.
(4) People like the silverbirds. I have to admit, seeing a bunch of them lined up in the sunshine at ORD or DFW is pretty cool...