"Don't all tubes guzzle gas at similar prices?"
No, most majors hedged their fuel prices when the barrell was at USD 25.....it is now at 33. Unlikely that European would have had that oportunity as a result of it's size of operation......may be mistaken.
However what DH was refering to is the fuel economy of said types when compared to a modern fleet. For example a classic will burn approx 6% more fuel than a 400 over a 9 hour sector.....that is a lot of coin that could have gone elsewhere. To balance the arguement you can pick up a good classic for 30-40 mill whilst a 400 was around the 140 mark until the latest dark cloud decended on us all.