Air Travel: Pros and Cons

Advantages and Disadvantages of Air Travel

Air travel has become very popular in the last few decades. There are a wide variety of reasons that have contributed to the increase in popularity including convenience and safety.  The following are some of the positive and negative factors involving air travel.

Disadvantage: Airplanes Cause Pollution.

The biggest drawback for traveling by air is the pollution.  Greenhouse gases are emitted into the atmosphere by the aero planes and these gases are responsible for global warming. Global warming increases the average temperature of the earth's atmosphere and people who want to avoid such a rise in temperature are alarmed by this effect.  Many airlines are becoming friendlier to the environment to prevent the effect of global warming. This can include them retrofitting their airplanes with a device called a winglet which improves fuel efficiency.  Airlines also spend millions of dollars upgrading their fleets to newer and more efficient aircraft. 

Disadvantage: High Cost

High cost of travel makes many people avoid traveling by air. It is frequently much less expensive to fuel up the car and drive to where you need to go instead of flying.  There are ways to get around this by taking advantage of discount
airline travel.  You can decide to fly in case you get a very good deal on your airfare.

Disadvantage: Fear of Flying

Many people refrain from flying.  If anyone has travelled in a flight which has hit an air pocket you will see that they have gone through a lot of rough weather due to turbulence and this can be rather terrifying. 

Advantage: Speed of Travel

The greatest advantage about air travel is that it is much faster to reach between places as compared to other means of travel; however these places have to be connected by air. Flying between two destinations in United States which are connected by air takes a few hours whereas going by car between these destinations might take a number of days. Since you are saving a number of days by flying you can enjoy longer vacations.

Advantage: Easy to Travel Long Distances

It is possible to cover long distances by flight in a reasonably short time whereas it is difficult to cover far off destinations by other modes of transportation. We can pretty much travel to any destination around the globe by air.  Some of these flights might prove to be quite long but they are still much shorter than if you had to rely on alternative means of transportation.

Advantage:  Safety

It has been found in general that air travel is the safest form of travel as compared to other travel modes. Each year thousands of deadly car crashes happen.  Similarly, there is no dearth of train accidents. This is not to say that air accidents do not take place; however frequency of such accidents is very small.  Decision making on the mode of travel has been very easy for many people who consider safety as the main factor for opting to fly.


Choosing air travel is a personal decision, based on the factors discussed above along with a multitude factors not discussed here.  For most travelers safety, speed of travel and cost are the over riding factors.  As long as cost remains affordable air travel will continue to grow in popularity.