How many miles per gallon for 747 plane?

A plane like a Boeing 747 uses approximately one gallon of fuel (about four liters) every second. Over the course of a 10-hour flight, it might burn 36,000 gallons (150,000 liters). According to Boeing's Web site, the 747 burns approximately five gallons of fuel per mile (12 liters per kilometer). That's just 0.2 miles per gallon!

That sounds like a tremendously poor miles-per-gallon rating! But consider that a 747 can carry as many as 568 people. Let's call it 500 people, because on most flights not all seats are occupied. A 747 transporting 500 people one mile uses five gallons of fuel. That means the plane is burning 0.01 gallons per person per mile. In other Words, the plane is getting 100 miles per gallon per person! The typical car gets about 25 miles per gallon, so the 747 is much better than a car carrying one person, and compares favorably even if there are four people in the car. Not bad when you consider that the 747 is flying at 550 miles per hour (900 km/h)!