Seven Reasons Why the Aviation Industry Is a Wonderful Thing

The aviation industry and those who choose to fly are under constant attack.¹ Environmentalists decry flying as an indulgence of the wealthy that causes disproportionate environmental damage and encourage a growing “flight shame” movement, while governments push new laws and taxes to penalize airlines and passengers.²

But, contrary to these detractors, aviation is, in fact, a vital, life-serving industry, without which human beings would live profoundly inferior lives. Here are just seven reasons why aviation is a wonderful thing that should be defended against denunciations and attempts to restrict it.

1. Flight Breaks Down Barriers between Nations

For most of history, nations and cultures were relatively insular. Few people ever left their hometown, let alone their country, or had direct experience of other countries or cultures. Today, thanks to modern aviation, nations of the world are better connected than ever. It’s easier to experience firsthand how people in other parts of the world live. Trade between nations is more plentiful than ever. This global exchange of goods and ideas helps prevent wars and reduces the tendency toward nationalism. As aviation entrepreneur Blake Scholl observes, “We haven’t had a world war since the dawn of the jet age.”

2. Flight Expands Opportunities to See the Wonders of the World

Even as recently as the 1950s, travel overseas was nearly exclusively the domain of the wealthy. Crossing the ocean meant a week-long steamship journey, or a slow, rough, and expensive ride on a piston-engine plane. Vacations abroad were unaffordable for the vast majority of people. In the 1950s, a flight from America to Italy would have cost more than $3,350 in 2021 dollars.³ Now it can be done for less than $400. Air travel is a life-serving, soul-enriching activity that, thanks to modern aviation, improves the lives of billions of people.

3. Flight Fuels Economic Growth and Technological Progress

Trade facilitates growth and progress. The faster trade is—and the more who can take part in it—the more growth and innovation there is.⁴ Fast air freight doesn’t just get you the latest product from Japan in a day or two—it makes the existence of many such products possible. Materials from one place are flown to another where people use them to create new things. Aviation enables people in less free countries to immigrate more easily to freer nations where they can work and innovate. For example, the all-female Afghan Robotics Team boarded a plane to escape Taliban-controlled Afghanistan—where they would have risked imprisonment or death for continuing their education and innovation—and moved to Mexico, where they can do both in relative safety. Aviation also transports the newest inventions from one country to others where people can improve on and learn from them. This turbocharges innovation to the benefit of everyone everywhere.

4. Flight Connects People

How many of your friends are from another country? How many more wonderful people might you have in your life if you traveled more? I would never have met my incredible wife-to-be if I hadn’t flown across the Atlantic. I have made amazing friends on the other side of the world—people who have dramatically enriched my life. Many of my best friends here in Britain hail from countries as varied as Romania, Canada, Turkey, and India. The more you travel, the more opportunities you have to meet new people and, in turn, the more opportunities you have to develop life-enhancing relationships.

5. Flight Transports Emergency Help Where and When it’s Needed

When disasters happen, the aviation industry launches into action. Take the recent evacuation of Kabul, where military and civilian jets transported as many as five hundred passengers at a time to safety (again, there were flights that carried more people than that at once). Fire-fighting jets protect people from forest fires and volcanoes, providing vital time for escape. Planes deliver medical supplies and doctors into war-torn and disease-hit remote areas. It is tempting to suggest that this role is more important than leisure flights or shipping gadgets to customers, but remember: The industry exists and has these resources and capabilities because of its incredible commercial value.

6. Flight Makes Travel Safer

If you want to travel from New York to Seattle, what’s your safest option? Every year, thirty-eight thousand Americans die in road accidents. But how often do you hear about a fatal accident on a commercial flight in America or western Europe? The few plane crashes we do hear about happen almost exclusively in developing parts of the world where maintenance and training are poor. Aviation is, by far, the safest means of travel available today, taking travelers off roads, reducing congestion, and getting people where they need to be quicker and safer than ever before.

7. Flying Is Just Downright Cool

Not only does flying give people access to great places and opportunities; it is also an awesome experience in its own right. Take a moment next time you fly to contemplate and appreciate what you’re actually doing. Book a window seat, and take in an extraordinary view of the world—a view no one had experienced just 150 years ago. Feel the awesome power when you charge down the runway. Marvel at how human ingenuity keeps hundreds of tons of metal thirty-seven thousand feet in the air. A plane is an extraordinary feat of engineering. The opportunity to ride around in one is an incredible gift from the brilliant men and women who make flight possible.

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The restrictions on travel imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic have devastated the aviation industry. Now, environmental crusaders and governments threaten to deal it a mortal blow. Can you imagine what the future would be like if they succeed and we lose the many benefits of aviation? On the other hand, imagine the benefits that lie ahead if aviation is free to grow. Imagine the faster, cleaner, and safer aircraft of the future.

The aviation industry is a powerful force for good. It should be recognized as such and defended accordingly.

About Thomas Walker-Werth

Thomas Walker-Werth is associate editor at The Objective Standard and a fellow at both Objective Standard Institute and Foundation for Economic Education. He is currently writing his first full-length book, Reason for Living: A Rational, Fact-Based Approach to Living Your Best Life. See more of his work at walker-werth.com.

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