We’ve seen commercial aircraft become lighter and lighter in recent years in an effort to increase fuel efficiency, and now Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) has made its own contribution to the aerospace industry’s fuel conservation movement with taxibot, a passenger jet towing vehicle that renders it unnecessary for planes to operate their engines on the tarmac.

At many airports, the passenger gates are several miles from the runways, and the drive to the runway consumes huge quantities of jet fuel. For example, a Boeing 747 consumes a ton of jet fuel every 17 minutes.

IAI taxibot project manager, Ron Brayer, claims airlines will save billions of dollars on fuel and improve plane safety…