The European Union is advocating new rules for airlines:
In response, the European Union proposed rules that would require airlines serving domestic routes to enter into an emissions-trading scheme by 2011. Carriers flying to and from Europe, including U.S. airlines, would have to enter the system by the following year. The plan is based on one already in operation for other European industries that buy and sell credits to emit certain amounts of carbon dioxide.
While today
Boeing expects the number of commercial jetliners to nearly double, to 36,420, in the next 20 years. The Federal Aviation Administration expects 1.2 billion passengers a year to travel on U.S. carriers by 2020, up from 741 million last year.
By 2050, the industry is expected to contribute anywhere from 6 to 10 percent of the gases and particles tied to global warming, up from about 3 percent today, said Michael J. Prather, a professor at the University of California at Irvine and lead author of a 1999 report on aviation’s role in global warming [Aviation and the Global Atmosphere] for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Let’s not forget Lear jets and other private airplanes.
I wonder what is happening to the proposal for a fuel tax on air travel? Can someone help?
Some consider travel by train more enjoyable.
An old MIT report on air traffic delays, will be updated soon:
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology did a study several years ago and found that when missed connections and flight cancellations are factored in, the average wait was two-thirds longer than the official statistic.
They also determined that as planes become more crowded – and jets have never been as jammed as they are today – the delays grow much longer because it becomes harder to find a seat on a later flight.
The MIT researchers are updating their study now. But with domestic flights running 85 to 90 percent full, meaning that virtually all planes on desirable routes are full, Cynthia Barnhart, an MIT professor who studies transportation systems, has a pretty good idea of what the new research will show when it is completed this autumn: “There will be severe increases in delays,” she said.
About 32 percent of domestic passengers connect from one flight to another to reach their destination, according to Transportation Department data analyzed by Back Aviation Solutions, a consulting firm.
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article New rules on airplanes?, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.