AIR VS. ROAD

Air Transportation vs. Road Transportation

• Transportation modes are usually modeled to either carry freight or passengers (Schmitt & Gollnick, 2016).
• The two main transportation systems that effectively achieve this objective while observing safety measures, time, and cost are:
  • Air transportation
  • Road Transportation
• Despite the advantages associated with road transportation such as cost and flexibility, many pilots consider air transportation as the best option.

Advantages of Air Transportation system

• Other than speed trains, air transport is another fast and effective means of transport
• Air transportation is cheaper to construct and maintain as compared to road transportation (Daley, 2016).
• Other than carrying passengers and cargo, air transportation could be used to provide internal and external security.
• Air transportation is convenient for carrying light and perishable goods (Schmitt & Gollnick, 2016).
• Air transport is hardly affected by physical barriers such as:
  • Rivers
  • Valleys
  • Mountains

Unlike road transportation whereby people have to construct numerous tracks, air transportation only requires the construction of airports. This means that air transportation is cheaper than road transportation.

Disadvantages of Air Transportation

• Very costly
• Quite risky in case of accidents and hijackings.
• Air transportation requires a huge investment for the establishment of a functional airport (Schmitt & Gollnick, 2016).
• Air transportation has limited connection networks across the globe as compared to road transportation which has a significant number of destinations.

Air transportation is relatively expensive for consumers as compared to road transportation.

Air transportation is rather risky when it comes to accidents. The reason being, airplane crashes are very fatal and survivors are rarely heard of.

Challenges of Air Transportation

• The four main challenges in air transportation include:
• Enhancing capacity- Airline have always been affected by congestion of passengers and freight leading to delays.
• Limited service- There are still many regions across the globe without air transportation systems hence limiting the provision of these services. (Daley, 2016)
• Safety- Airplanes are always at a risk of being hijacked and this probability has made many potential customers rather skeptical of its safety measures.
• Environmental incompatibility- Many airports are constructed close to residential areas leading to risks of accidents and noise pollution.
• Currently, the air transportation system has gained significant recognition hence attracting more consumers seeking this service. However, many domestic airports have not been constructed to accommodate the increasing number of customers. With this, delays become imminent.
• As for the limited services, many remote areas and communities have no air transportation services. Despite the high demand for this service, the people in this region are compelled to use alternative means.

Mitigation of Challenges

• The issue of congestion and delays could be mitigated if potential investors and governments could join efforts to build more airports and purchase more planes.
• Safety issues could be controlled by enhancing security, constructing airports far from physical barriers, using advanced technology such as the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B).
• Environmental compatibility could be achieved by constructing airports far from residential areas (Daley, 2016).
• To enhance air transportation services across the globe, more airports ought to be constructed, even in rural areas.
• In conclusion, owing to the numerous advantages and manageable limitations, pilots would easily advocate for air transportation than the road.
• The government could encourage foreign investors to establish private airports, which will help to ease the congestion of passengers. Relatively, more planes would imply that delays are hardly experienced. With safety issues, the government should invest in enhancing security at airports. This move will discourage hijackers and other criminals.