Continental Airlines announced that it would lay off workers, ground planes, reduce flights, to "reduce capacity", because of high fuel costs. One wonders where that will end. Has jet travel cheap enough for common people been just a function of cheap petroleum? Is it doomed to vanish? With higher prices reducing the number of travelers, and consequent inability to spread costs over a huge market, jet travel could be reduced to a niche for millionaires and diplomats. We may be nearing the end of what has been a brief golden age of global mass transit.
There are alternative technologies for ground travel. Are there any for air travel? Steamships can run on cleaned-up coal, but not airships. Back to steerage.
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