Yes it does.
Seems like a lot doesn’t it?
But, we must consider scale.
A 747-400 carries around 63,500 gallons of fuel, which actually makes that gallon-per-second burn rate quite efficient when you think about it.
At cruising altitude (around 35,000 feet), a 747 burns approximately 5-5.5 gallons per mile.
Works out to about 0.2 miles per gallon, which sounds terrible until you consider that the plane is moving nearly 400 people and their luggage at about 550 miles per hour.
Break it down per passenger, and you’re looking at roughly 85-100 passenger miles per gallon.
Surprisingly comparable to a car with a single occupant.
Once at cruising altitude, the 747’s wing design is so efficient that it requires relatively little power to maintain flight.
The real fuel guzzling happens during takeoff.
In those first few minutes, the engines are gulping fuel at nearly twice the normal rate, closer to two gallons per second.
This massive energy expenditure is necessary to lift nearly 900,000 pounds of aircraft, passengers, cargo, and fuel against gravity.
Also on those hot days, engines need to work harder, burning up to 15% more fuel.
The sweet spot for fuel efficiency is actually on cold days at high altitudes where the thin, cold air reduces drag while the engines operate at peak efficiency.
Modern 747-8s are even better, having improved these numbers by about 16% through advanced aerodynamics and more efficient engines.