For tens of thousands of years man’s sole method of travel was walking. Next he harnessed the power of the horse, camel and elephant to assist him in travelling with greater speed and distance while at the same time transporting additional weight of goods. Travel by water was achieved from the time of the Sumerians and though the size and stability of vessels improved their maximum speed did not exceed 15 knots on a good day.
For most of the last two millennia travel was limited to the nobility or the very wealthy. By today’s standards it was slow, uncomfortable and highly dangerous. Speed was limited to the pace of a horse or sailing vessels.
With the advent of the steam engine and later the internal combustion engine things began to change. First steam engines were added to existing wooden hulls fitted with sails in a hybrid attempt to get the best of both systems. Steel hulls then evolved with speeds of 20 knots or more. Navigation systems improved and the development of wireless contributed to safety and convenience.
Finally the Wright brothers broke the bonds of gravity with an heavier than air contraption powered by an internal combustion engine. The era of aviation was born. Each succeeding year saw new designs as man experimented with bi-planes, tri-planes and monoplanes, employing a variety of materials to improve the performance by limiting the weight of the airframe while developing ever more powerful engines and efficient propeller systems.
As aircraft speeds increased and ever higher altitudes were attained man encountered the challenges of low oxygen, ice forming on the wings and in the engine carburetors. Each step of the way was a learning process as aviators ventured into the unknown.
Trans-continental travel by air became a reality in the 1930’s with hardy pioneers flying a variety of flying boats. After the war air travel expanded rapidly using surplus airframes converted to civilian use and with a new generation of piston engine aircraft. But travel was still expensive and not for everyone.
True mass travel was finally achieved with the launching of the new jet aircraft in the 1960’s. Once again the ingenuity of man was tested, overcoming metallurgical problems and a whole host of other safety of flight issues. Periodic aircraft design improvements increased fuel efficiency and safety. Huge investments were made in developing successive generations of jet engines that improved reliability and fuel efficiency. Every effort was made to cut cost and improve safety, steadily bringing the cost of air travel down.
The general public has been the beneficiary of this remarkable investment in aviation by producing ever greater affordability and providing international travel to more people with each successive generation. More people than ever before can travel the globe with the utmost safety.
Now, with a stroke of the pen, politicians in Europe and the United Kingdom have reversed the trend.
Using the fig leaf of the new Gods of the Environment as cover, they have imposed a crushing revenue generating burden on the travelling public that places a punitive cost on international travel, a tax that is likely to follow the pattern of VAT by escalating over time. It’s all about revenue and nothing about CO2. The crazy logic that says that Hawaii is closer to London than Barbados underscores the point.
Political expediency has reversed the trend of ever more affordable travel produced by the ingenuity, sacrifice and dedication of generations who have contributed so much to the development of affordable civil aviation.
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