The Golden Age of Air Travel is today

Vintage photos reveal the golden age of flying

The vintage photos depict air travel back when only the uber rich could afford it, so yeah, it was posh.

​More below the fold.

The cost of air travel today is incredibly low. Since 1980, the cost of flying has dropped by half, and the cost per mile is about $0.16 per mile. 

Carpe Diem Archives - AEI
The cost of driving runs $0.22 per passenger mile, transit on average costs $0.84 per passenger mile, with $0.20 being recovered at the firebox, and $0.64 being paid by taxpayers. Light rail is of course astronomical at $2.03 per passenger mile! Yes, your 10 mile daily commute actually should cost you $20.30 each way. You're welcome, although they passed these ridiculous light rail bonds contra Maddog's vote. We could have leased these people low priced autos, with gas to commute for less. I guess it is better to inconvenience them, cattle car them, and then sock it to the taxpayers. Oh, and about that argument that we don't have room on our roads for all the additional cars, in the Peoples Transit Mecca of Portlandia transit accounts for 2.5% of all daily trips. We call this a "pound sand" argument.

Transport Costs Per Passenger Mile | The Antiplanner

Air travel is safer, cheaper, and produces less pollutants per passenger mile than most other forms of transportation. It is cheap enough today that even the lower class can afford to travel. We live in the greatest times in human history. 

This is the Golden Era of Air Transportation. 

Now would someone cut the budget of the Department of Homeland Security, and the TSA to zero so we can return to sane travel. We are comfortable the airlines, or even a child could do a better job than these knobs. With their history of allowing well more than 95% of contraband items on to planes, and in response creating insane long waiting lines, in order to get more money.

The future is the self drive car, the share ride self drive car, and the airplane. Other modes of transportation will continue to exist but they will never be as important as they are today. Well, except for space flight, but, that is for now, a different subject.