Airplane flights are cheap because they are subsidized

Airplane flights are subsidized by governments around the world. This is due to a number of factors, including:

• The desire to promote tourism and trade.
• The need to connect people living in remote areas.
• The importance of aviation for the economy.

However, subsidies for air travel also have a number of negative consequences, the most important being increased air pollution and the impact on the environment.

The subsidies were made decades ago when the polluting effect of airplanes was not known to everyone. Maintaining these "privileges" today is something that makes no economic or social sense.

Air pollution is one of the most serious problems caused by air travel. Planes emit greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change. They also emit other pollutants, such as nitrogen oxide and sulfur, which can cause health problems such as heart and respiratory disease.

Planes need large amounts of fuel, and extracting and transporting this fuel also harms the environment. In addition, airplanes generate waste, which can end up in the ocean or on land.

Governments subsidize air flights, which lowers the price of tickets for passengers, and as Greenpeace has recently published, some train tickets are much more expensive than plane tickets for the same trip between two cities. In some cases the prices of the train ticket are more than 20 times higher than those of the plane. Which is nonsense.

And on the other hand, these subsidies also mean that governments are losing money, which could be used for other things, such as promoting public transport or education.

In conclusion, subsidies for air travel have a number of negative consequences, both for the environment and for the economy. It is important that governments consider these issues before continuing to subsidize air travel, and that they change as soon as possible.

Here are some alternatives that governments can consider to reduce the negative impact of air travel:

• Taxes on polluting aviation fuel.
• Taxes on airline tickets.
• Subsidies for train or bus travel.
• Investment in improving public transport.
• Education on the environmental impact of air travel.

These alternatives would help reduce air pollution and the impact on the environment caused by air travel. They would also help make air travel more expensive, which would discourage people from flying as much.