Week 1 - Victoria Foster- Who uses air travel ?

General notes

This map is very useful for examining the usage of airlines on a global scale. There are obviously greener areas that represent a heavier usage or air travel such as over Europe, North America, Japan and the east of China. Obviously this will  be affected by population density but it will also be affected by wealth as flights are often used by affluent business people for work related travel, holidaying abroad is also popular with the more affluent. With this in mind who is likely to use or could be encouraged to start using air travel within Brazil, Russia India and China?
On a general note air travel is the only existing way to travel long distances -including overseas-  at high speeds with a large quantity of people, but it is a major contributor to CO2 emissions and greenhouse gases, so how justifiable is it to encourage its use?
Worldwide there are over 1 billion air passengers each year making air travel a popular source of transport.

Brazil

Brazil has 67 airports 28 of which provide international flights. TAM is one of the largest airlines in Brazil and they provide discounts for frequent fliers within the country, which encourages business users who may be regularly travelling long distances in the country for work. Brazil is also a fairly popular holiday destination due to its hot climate and Carnival, so international air travel to and from Brazil is increased as a result of this tourism.
Travelling by road (cars and buses) is a popular choice of transport in Brazil but this often causes massive tailbacks of over 100 miles during an average rush hour. The rail network in Brazil is also quite limited, with two lines in Rio de Janero serving 250,000 passengers on a daily basis. The Brazilian government does have plans to improve these types of transport to help people with their daily commute which can consume over 4 hours of a person’s day, but is there possibly an opening here for some kind of small scale air travel services?

Russia

In Russia many people do already use air travel for their daily commute travelling from the far east of Russia all the way to Moscow. Russia is geographical vast so due to the increased speed domestic flights make good sense for those that can afford them. Likewise, the rail network in Russia is fairly extensive which is also a faster mode of transport than cars or buses. The country has nearly 90,000 km of railway which also reaches into many neighbouring countries, meaning that flight isn’t the only faster, public transport option even for some international travel. Generally travelling by air is an expensive choice so rail may be preferable, but obviously this will depend what speed the traveller requires and also how easy it is to access each mode of transport. In order to boost use of air travel in Russia it would likely involve leeching current rail travel passengers, so perhaps any design ideas for Russia would be better used trying to improve experience for existing customers rather than trying to attract new custom.

India

Most major cities in India currently have airports and it is a quick way to travel to, from and around India, but it’s not a mode of transport used by the masses or at least not frequently, many Indians can’t afford to use air travel and usually only travel shorter distances anyway. However use of air travel in India is rising and many Airports are being upgraded to cope with this and meet the standards that foreign travellers expect. As there is on-going work to improve this area currently happening it may be the opportune moment to design a product or service that could be integrated into this development, meaning that the money poured into this industry is used effectively.

China

Due to the huge rise of car ownership in China many roads are flooded with a high number of users that they just can’t cope with. With regards to slightly longer distance travel (with regards to car journey) air travel becomes a viable alternative for those that can afford it (obviously shorter distances would be better served by using rail or other forms of public transport). There are twenty domestic airlines within China many of which also provide international flights. The east of China is generally the most affluent with many major cities here, similarly to Russia, China is geographically vast and so using flight as part of a commute is a viable option for many, especially those who live farther west.