51–52 of 52 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
He had a four-hour layover in Singapore. Did he leave the secure area during that time, even though he was not required to?
No need to do that, because Singapore and many other airports have screening at each individual gate. You go through a metal detector right before the waiting area at your specific gate.
Problem is, that hasn't been the case in the United States.
Or rather, while passenger miles are still up over the past 14 years, both aviation fuel consumption and departures are down.
The US hit peak aviation fuel in 2000. Peak departures occurred in 2005, likely due to a shift to smaller aircraft. Total passenger miles remain up since then, due largely to increased load factors -- reduced seat pitch (spacing) allowing more rows aboard aircraft, and improved scheduling packing more people into those seats.
I discovered the peak aviation fuel element when looking into one of several rather unconvincing projects aimed at providing biofuels for commercial aviation (the proposals simply don't scale).
http://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/1wo2hl/boeings_...
Using the US Department of Transportation's "RITA" data, 2013 aviation fuel consumption was 17% below 2000 levels, and less than half of the 2000 prediction.
Year 2000 FAA Est 2014 RITA Actual % Difference
------- ------------ ---------------- ------------
2000 20,177 19,026 -5.7%
2012 33,519 16,003 -52.3%
2013 -- 15,998 --
Steve Kopits points out that departures peaked in 2005, two years before the recession started,
http://energypolicy.columbia.edu/events-calendar/global-oil-...
See p. 37 of the slide deck: http://energypolicy.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/energy/...
I'm long-term quite bearish on aviation.