AIR TRAVEL – THE CONTRADICTORY EXPECTATIONS OF THE POPULATION

It is not good to be Minister of Transport, in charge of air transport, among other things, in most countries. Their mission is both to regulate this activity and to satisfy their constituents, at least in democratic countries. This is tantamount to squaring the circle.

I also note that the attitude of the population is different depending on the state of economic progress of the countries. Westerners have a long history in air transport and they are no longer amazed by the possibilities of this mode of transport, which is not the case for the rest of the world, which came a little later in this activity.

Less noise and visual pollution, less CO2 production, but easy access to air transport with lower and lower prices, while asking airlines to never go bankrupt and manufacturers to produce aircraft with total reliability, all in flawless airspace management, How, in the face of what must be called demands, can we find the right compromises, because that is what we are talking about.

This is the task of ministers, and it must be recognized that it is not an easy one. It is all the more complicated as the Ministers of Transport are also in charge of land resources and in particular the train. However, in Europe at least, the train has become the direct competitor of short-haul air transport with the mastery of high-speed rail. Except that these colossal investments made to connect large cities have been made to the detriment of small cities that have been neglected by this mode of transport. The only thing left for users to do is to use their car, which is in contradiction with the quest for decarbonisation.

So the temptation is great to give satisfaction to the one who shouts the loudest, or who is able to influence the elections. For the time being, it is the environmental lobby that is winning, with increasingly professional means and financial support, the sources of which we would like to know.

As a result, governments need to show empathy for people who are victims of air travel. The residents living near airports are the most virulent, which is all the more strange since a large part of them are employed in trades related to air transport and that they have settled in the areas close to airport platforms with full knowledge of the facts. But just because they are in no position to complain doesn't mean ministers shouldn't take their grievances into account. As a result, major European airports are gradually being forced to limit the number of movements, or even to close their facilities during the night. And for good measure, in order to satisfy the environmentalist injunctions, short-haul flights are very artificially limited, it must be said.

But in the meantime, customers are asking for more frequencies and services in order to find the flight they think they need at any time and lower fares because they have become accustomed to it, without seeing that they are not paying the cost prices and that it is not with them that the airlines will be able to finance decarbonization. Basically, air transport is a victim of its own success. It has gradually opened up to new sections of the population and they want to continue to benefit from it. Little by little, the demand for short flights will turn into long-haul flights and this will certainly not be good for the carbon footprint, unless new aircraft and perhaps new ways of flying come to market.

But for that to happen, you will have to be willing to pay the bill.

Basically, it is easy to understand the difficult balancing act that ministers must constantly take. On the other hand, it is not acceptable to make a sector of activity, air transport, pay for the benefit of its competitor, the train, when it will need to mobilise all its energies and financial resources to achieve carbon neutrality.

In short, the position of Minister of Transport in Western countries is not necessarily an enviable one.