Cars, buses and trains outdo planes for short journeys
Faster trains and better roads that cut travel time are eating into the market for short-haul flights, says a news report. This is welcome for a number of reasons. First, short haul flights may not be time-saving at all if you include the time it takes to reach the airport in most cities.
The ‘short’ in short-haul flights is defined by a comparison of the cumulative time it takes to travel by air and by road or train. This includes not just the journey time between the point of departure and the point of arrival, but also the time it takes to reach the departure terminal (for plane, train or bus) from your home or office, the time it takes to board your plane, train or bus, disembark at the destination, and find your way to yous final destination. If you travel by car, leaving the city and reaching your final destination can be simpler as you may not have to enter the crowded city centre.
Such comparisons of the time taken from start to finish would render many short-haul flights unattractive in comparison to travel by road or rail, even for those for whom cost is not a consideration. Second, the total cost is likely higher in most cases, given the real-world economics of running airlines. Those who factor in the cost, too, would be willing to make a trade-off between the additional time taken by surface transport and the premium built into airfares.
Right now, airfares reflect the paucity of planes in Indian fleets, with about 75 planes being grounded for assorted reasons. The paucity of planes and the short supply of pilots make flights more expensive than they ought to be. This artificially jacks up the cost-competitiveness of surface transport.
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