The Oil Drum: Europe

According to the BBC, the UK government has today given the go-ahead for a major expansion at Stansted airport: "Airport owner BAA wants to increase passenger numbers from 25 million to 35 million a year and flights leaving the airport from 241,000 to 264,000 a year".

It is easy, far too easy, for the government to ignore Peak Oil, and the issue that almost everyone is familiar with, global warming / climate change, but how can it ignore the current meltdown in the financial markets and the grim forecasts for the UK economy?

This is a guest post by Cameron Leckie, of ASPO Australia.

The organisation that I work for depends upon air travel for the movement of several thousand trainees around the country each year. I have been working on some peak oil risk management/mitigation strategies and the future of air travel is a key requirement that needs to be explored. This is a start on identifying the prospects for air travel in the post peak oil world. Ironically, this essay was planned whilst flying from Brisbane to Melbourne for one of this organisation's courses.

TODers know that flying, for the most part, is a luxury and not a necessity. Well, that's the way it should be, anyhow, but often, there's that pesky matter of business travel. Even academics do a considerable amount of travel, since we have to show our faces at few conferences a year in order to stay current in the field and make sure that our colleagues remember us. In other professions, some businesspeople may get on a plane 2-3 times a week (or more!).