|
Making
life a misery
I’ve done a lot of work in the travel industry. As I get older,
I try to travel less, still go abroad ten or twelve times a year, sometimes on
business, sometimes for pleasure or visiting family abroad (well, that’s sometimes
a pleasure). I’ve fallen in love with low cost airlines.
No snooty business class up front. No superannuated stewards
and stewardesses angry at serving at the back. Instead, lasses and lads from Liverpool,
Luton, Glasgow or Essex smiling and joking with passengers who are happy with
reasonable legroom, a relaxed hand-luggage policy (though this is changing), and
a good price. A much better schedule too (just look at the early Easyjet departures
from Gatwick – meaning you can now do a full day’s work in Nice). A great marketing
revolution for the great British (and European) travelling public.
It’s galling enough to know that the fare is sometimes doubled
by tax – although “tax” may include a charge for airport use. Then along come
the green brigade telling us that low cost airlines are killing us all by polluting
the environment.
Wait a minute! Have they worked out what people will do if
they don’t travel? I’ve got the answer – they’ll be driving around in cars. So
here’s a simple calculation. Take a plane load of 120 people. Let’s assume that
three quarters of them have cars. That’s 90. Let’s assume one third of them hire
a car at their destination and drive around in exactly the same way that they
drive around when at home.
That leaves 60. Let’s assume the 60 would be driving around
on holiday in the UK, with an average occupancy of two. That’s 30 cars driving
around for a few hours each day instead of one plane in the air for an hour and
a half (and remember air resistance is lower than road resistance, so a plane
burns up most when taking off, and a little bit more when landing).
I don’t know what the exact sums are, but if one plane uses
more in 90 minutes than 30 cars in several hours, I bet the difference is tiny.
What’s more, those who now buy cottages in the South of France
or in Spain because of the low cost flight access might be encouraged to buy cottages
in the British countryside instead. I’m sure that would please environmentalists
and local authorities worried about the crowding out of essential workers.
So, environmentalists, stop making our life a misery. Stay
at home in your green wellies and smelly, muddy boots if you like, but do allow
your fellow citizens some pleasure. We know that you – as first generation single
issue fanatics - get your kicks from agitating about environmental destruction,
but do allow the advance of civilisation to give us some pleasures.
|
