Originally Posted by
SquareDanceGuy
Three engines = 50% more fuel
Ehh, fuel burn is not 50% higher when the number of engines increases by 50%.

For example, an A330-300 does not burn half the fuel of an A340-300 on the same route and load. Burn is higher, but only incrementally. It's the marginal maintenance costs that effectively increase with the number of engines.