Quote: "Exactly. Which is why a world in which carbon emissions limits have to be met and not just talked about, and where the very demand you talk about drives oil prices up relentlessly, is highly likely to be incompatible with the assumptions of never-ending expansion of air transport which still prevail.
NS "
No, NorthSouth, meant long term, sorry if it was not clear. You're talking very much about the present and the short term. All things are cyclical and at present things look grim, but they haven't always and there's no rule stating that they always will.
Oil prices are up and down depending on geo-political developments, but new reserves are being found all the time (because they have to as traditional supplies become unreliable).
Hybrid fuels are being experimented with and that is just a start. Technology is making aircraft quieter and cleaner, because of legal and other requirements. The same happened with cars, because it had to.
Major expansion in air transport will continue, especially as roads and railways get clogged up and people become increasingly mobile. There is no "putting the genie back in the bottle" as the green lobby would like to see.
Who know what the future holds, but history teaches that neccesity is the mother of invention.
And what does that bring us back to....?!