[iamawacko]

People will still travel long distances, and because American passenger trains aren't of very high quality, they will be driving. The gallons per seat per mile of airliners are way better than basically any car, for example the 747 has 91 Passenger-miles/US gallon. Even some of the better gas cars struggle to get above 30 miles per gallon.

Additionally, its not really a massive win. Air traffic only makes up 8% of less than 30% of American emissions. Cars, on the other hand, make up more than 75% of that same 30%[0]. Switching to aircraft might actually make more sense for the environment.

[0] https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast-facts-transportation-...

[dleslie]

I wouldn't expect the ban to occur in isolation of other actions. If we're at the point where personal air travel is being axed, then fuel taxes for automobiles would likely also be prohibitive.

But here in Canada our carbon tax is facing strong opposition from populists, and I expect that the next Government is likely to axe it. The current Government is already putting in place boutique exclusions; for instance, home heating fuel is excluded for the next three years. As an alternative, to discourage a major common form of driving, we should consider ways in which to make businesses find operating office space impossibly expensive.