"Air travel creates more problems than benefits" - Is this a fair comment? (TYS 2002 - QN10)

1. Likelihood of malfunction/something going wrong is rather small. (it is said that one is more likely to meet with an accident on a road than be on a plane where something goes wrong)

2. Provides employment and economic benefits (e.g. Singapore Airlines, Changi Airport, Aeronautical R&D/Engineering, Tourism)

3. Catastrophic effects due to the malfunction of the aircraft (technical mishap or terrorist attack) - e.g. 9/11, 2010 Mangalore Plane Crash

4. Extremely vulnerable to changes in weather or unforeseen circumstances. (e.g. Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption in Iceland) When such undesirable occurrences happen, flights will be affected.

4.1. Resulting in a lot of inconveniences for passengers as they may get grounded for an uncertain length of time. This will disrupt people's lives and businesses that rely on air travel.

5. Benefits:

6. Extremely convenient. People/goods are moved around the world very quickly => Globalisation, MNCs..etc

7. Countries may have disagreements on airspace (minor)

8. Allows trade between countries to occur more efficiently and effectively as it reduces the trouble and time taken to transport goods from one country to another. This will increase the standard of living of people around the world as it exposes people to a larger variety of counsmer goods to choose from.

9. saves time for the highlights. tourists have to sit through long, dull journeys just to experience the highlights of the place. so with air travel, they travel by air and save the time for entertainment.

10. Problems:

11. Evaluation & Conclusion