{"id":2635,"date":"2026-01-14T18:22:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/airlines-to-save-on-fuel-as-weight-loss-pills-grow-popular-wall-street-says\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T18:22:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:22:30","slug":"airlines-to-save-on-fuel-as-weight-loss-pills-grow-popular-wall-street-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/airlines-to-save-on-fuel-as-weight-loss-pills-grow-popular-wall-street-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Airlines to save on fuel as weight-loss pills grow popular, Wall Street says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"RegularArticle-ArticleBody-5\" data-module=\"ArticleBody\" data-test=\"articleBody-2\" data-analytics=\"RegularArticle-articleBody-5-2\"><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\" style=\"top:0;left:0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-108198080\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>Celsopupo | Istock | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p>Wall Street is finding an unexpected beneficiary of America&#8217;s weight loss boom: airlines.<\/p>\n<p>With the first GLP-1 weight loss drug now available in pill form, analysts at Jefferies say broad adoption across society could quietly lower fuel bills \u2014 airlines&#8217; single largest cost \u2014 and lift earnings for the carriers. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A slimmer society = lower fuel consumption. Airlines have a history of being vigilant around aircraft weight savings, from olives (pitless, of course) to paper stock,&#8221; the Wall Street firm said in a note to clients.<\/p>\n<p>Jefferies contended that a 10% reduction in average passenger weight could translate into roughly 2% total aircraft weight savings, up to 1.5% lower fuel costs and as much as a 4% boost to earnings per share.<\/p>\n<p>Patients are already getting their hands on the\u00a0first GLP-1 pill for obesity\u00a0from\u00a0Novo Nordisk, and a similar product from <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-5\">Eli Lilly<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0isn&#8217;t far behind, with U.S. approval expected within months.\u00a0By eliminating the need for self-injection, pills are widely expected to attract first-time patients to obesity treatments.  <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"ArticleBody-smallSubtitle\">Earnings Gains<\/h3>\n<p>Jefferies estimates the implications could be material for the largest U.S. carriers, led by <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-6\">American Airlines<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>, <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-7\">Delta Air Lines<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>, <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-8\">United Airlines<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> and <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-9\">Southwest Airlines<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Collectively, the four carriers are expected to burn about 16 billion gallons of fuel in 2026 at an average fuel price of $2.41 a gallon, according to Jefferies. That puts their combined fuel bill at nearly $39 billion, accounting for nearly 19% of total operating expenses.<\/p>\n<p>Assuming a 1% reduction in aircraft weight improves fuel efficiency by 0.75%, the investment bank estimates a 2% decline in average passenger weight could translate into roughly 4% upside to earnings per share across the group. That equals potential EPS gains of about 2.8% for Delta, 3.5% for United, 4.2% for Southwest and as much as 11.7% for American, which has more operating leverage to fuel costs.<\/p>\n<p>Weight is one of the most important drivers of fuel efficiency, a point aircraft manufacturers including  <span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-10\">Boeing<span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> routinely emphasize. When Boeing delivers an aircraft, there is a fixed &#8220;operating empty weight,&#8221; with the remaining allowance up to the maximum takeoff weight split among fuel, passengers, baggage and cargo, Jefferies noted.<\/p>\n<p>Jefferies used a 737 Max 8 as an example. The aircraft has an operating empty weight of about 99,000 pounds, with capacity for roughly 46,000 pounds of fuel and 36,000 pounds of payload. Assuming a two-class configuration with 178 passengers at an average weight of 180 pounds, passengers account for around 32,000 pounds.<\/p>\n<p>If average passenger weight declined by 10%, total passenger weight would fall by about 3,200 pounds or  roughly 2% of maximum takeoff weight, delivering meaningful fuel savings over thousands of flights per year, Jefferies said. <\/p>\n<p>The industry&#8217;s fixation on weight is well documented. In 2018, United Airlines switched its Hemisphere magazine to lighter paper, trimming about an ounce per copy, a move expected to save 170,000 gallons of fuel annually, worth roughly $290,000 at the time, Jefferies noted.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 CNBC&#8217;s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Celsopupo | Istock | Getty Images Wall Street is finding an unexpected beneficiary of America&#8217;s weight loss boom: airlines. With the first GLP-1 weight loss drug now available in pill form, analysts at Jefferies say broad adoption across society could quietly lower fuel bills \u2014 airlines&#8217; single largest cost \u2014 and lift earnings for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[430,2601,2546,2603,1951,1180,849,848,2602],"class_list":["post-2635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-loan","tag-airlines","tag-fuel","tag-grow","tag-pills","tag-popular","tag-save","tag-street","tag-wall","tag-weightloss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/finzexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}