On a recent trip, we wondered: Do long-haul flights really 'land on fumes'? How much does it cost to fill up the tank of a 747? And is LHR really the world's busiest airport?

While we found the answer to the latter two, we couldn't find anything definitive about the former. But we did learn that:

• The five busiest airports, based on passenger traffic, are: Atlanta (ATL), Chicago (ORD), London (LHR), Tokyo (HND), Los Angeles (LAX).
• The first flight attendants had to weigh less than 115 pounds, be unmarried and be trained nurses.
• The Montreal-based IATA (International Air Transport Authority) issues all airport codes.
• David Letterman and Barry Manilow auditioned for the lead (Ted Striker) in the film, Airplane!
• The fastest Concorde flight was on 7th February 1996, which went from London to New York in 2:52:59, 40 minutes faster than normal.
• A Boeing 747 holds 57,285 gallons of gas (or 217,110 litres, costing about £217K) and is made up of six million parts.
• Sixteen percent of Britons make conversation with their neighbours on a flight, compared with 66% of Italians.
• Airplane hijacking was outlawed in 1961.
  
• The flight attendant who reportedly had sex with Ralph Fiennes in an airplane loo was fired by Quantas earlier this year.
• Mobile phone usage doesn't actually cause any problems to air travel. (A pilot told us this.)
• Singapore Airplines raised $1.9 million for charity by auctioning off tickets for their first flight.
• A British man named Edwin holds the record for flying in the most kinds of aircraft - 841.
• This site has great instructions on how to make a paper airplane.

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