Larger aircraft are very unstable gliders (they're always under power - even while landing... just throttled back) :/ Going slower in flight could be an option.... That would change the cycle life of the engine (more hours = more service - luckily, turbines don't require too much in the way of service compared to other engines
). I wonder if there's unforeseen consequences of that though - like needing more aircraft in the air to meet cargo demands...
I found an estimation of a Boeing 777-300's parasitic drag to be .0106 (just thought I'd throw that out there - seems low, but not unreasonable).
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Here's an interesting chart (date is 2007)... I came across a fuel consumption by industry chart awhile back - and can't seem to find it again...
Another interesting point (not directly related to FE) is the cooling effect from aircraft contrails... The airline grounding due to 9/11 allowed scientists to get empirical evidence that ice clouds from aircraft actually deflect some heat off the planet....