Originally Posted by
ATC Watcher
Nor sure which ones will still be there 2 years from now , but some States have already indicated that they will nationalize their National carriers ( e.g. France with AF and Italy with Alitalia ) I can guess similar statements have been or will be made for others like Singapore Airlines or Emirates, Qatar, etc.. as those States basic economic model is based on their national airline. Which size they will still be is of course another question .
It is also conceivable that large Countries with little developed modern mass ground transportation infrastructure ( e.g , USA, Russia, Norway ,even Canada ) will be able to restart domestic operations on a larger scale quicker than others,
Do you mean in the sense that the ground transport substitutes domestic flights, or that it spreads infection?
Very few countries have so little ground infrastructure that journeys by land or indeed by sea for island nations would become simply impossible. In most cases, it's a question of what multiple the end to end journey time would be, possibly starting with about 0.75 where high speed rail exists between city centres, but air is still attractive for people living in the wider hinterland, or for onward connections. For that reason, CDG & ORY to LYS has continued to exist as a route, despite the TGv, which
afaik takes about 90-95% of the combined air-rail market.
Norway for one has an excellent road network, but distances are vast between the outlying cities and the roads are still going through mountainous terrain.
Of the most populous nations, Brazil perhaps has the least developed major inter-urban road network, although the most popular sectors are still a much shorter hop between Rio & SP. Brazil is rare in having almost zero inter-urban without being an island group like the Phillipines.