<rant>
Just to throw in a number of figures:
1) Lufthansa consumes about 4.5 liters/100 passenger kilometers flow, Hapag Lloyd does it even with under 3 liters (thanks to 3-3-3 layout on their A310
), while an average mid-sized car guzzles around 7.5 liters/100PKM. Now for the greens, most of who have profound lack-of-knowledge in elementary arithmetics: Thats 40% less fuel for LH or 60% less fuel for HF. (sorry I don't have figures for other airliners).
2) Commercial aviation uses less land aera per RPK and emits less noise per RPK than ANY OTHER known means of transportation, apart space transportation systems.
Facts about subsidies:
3) The german government wastes 10 billion EUR every year in wind power plants, a form of power generation which is completely unsable on the large scale, unless we discover a means to store vast amounts of electircal energy, all in order to fight "evil" nuclear power plants, in order to make "enviromentally friendly" power. However, if you provided 100% of the worlds primary engery needs with solar power plants by 2050, the albedo (reflection coefficient of Earth) would change enough that the climatic consequences would be unpredictable. However, it is not possible for this fact to penetrate the thick green skulls because of lack-of-scientific-knowledge.
4) The very same government wastes 3-5 billion EUR every year in SUBSIDIZING mineral coal, which is then to be converted into electric energy, ignoring the fact that Germany has over 25% of the world's known brown-coal supplies and the best brown-coal powerplants (the only power plant that produces energy at a cost simlar to nuclears)
5) The very same green government keeps ranting about "subsidizing" commercial aviation, however, they try to make life hell-on-earth for the airlines, by imposing airport curfews, making them pay for the neighbours noise-surpessing windows and other things. I live near a busy railway line. Why don't we shut it down at 2200 every night and make the people pay for MY windows?! No, we're throwing billions of EUR into the German Railway because they don't get their act together, and drive rotten trains around the country which are filled under 20% on the average.
Not taxing someone or something does NOT equal subsidizing.
6) Commercial Aviation is not only the backbone of globalization and international trade, but also an ambassador for peace and mutual understanding of cultures.
Things in Europe are getting ridiculous.
I think it is time to bomb the greens back to the stone age for their own safety and finally bring Disney World to Vladivostok
"I wish to warn you about the highly dangerous 'green movement', that threatens to stop progess of human knowledge"
</rant>
SailorOrion