In the New Yorker...

[Front-Ranger]

You can take a train from here to Boston. The train is already powered by electricity.

Yes, but what if you don't want to go to Boston?

[Jeff Wrangler]

Yes, but what if you don't want to go to Boston?

You're the one who mentioned Boston.

[southendmd]

Who wouldn't want to go to Boston?! 

[Front-Ranger]

LOL apparently no one, including the future king of Britain!

That reminds me of the time I needed to go from Denver to Montreal where I was in charge of the media room for the Biomass Conference of the Americas (need to get a little climate content in here to keep it on-topic). Flew in to Logan and went to my gate for the connection to Montreal. About 20 minutes later, I noticed people going towards the boarding door. I had my seat already and didn't want to stand in line so I stayed put. I looked up a few minutes later and the attendant was closing the door! Apparently they don't announce those flights...is it another Canadaism, peut-?tre?

[Front-Ranger]

My point is that less than 100 million people in the US live in core urban places where the existing system of travel is more or less convenient for them, assuming that when they travel, they want to go to another core urban area, rather than to someplace like...Wyoming. 225 million people + or - live in rural, suburban or small metros. When we want to travel, we have to get to the urban center, be herded onto a huge airliner, then do it all in reverse at our destination. And it costs just as much or more.

Here in the Rockies, there is a network of smaller planes and Lear jets that take people to the ski areas. It's getting impossible to go by car anymore, especially when you want to come home on a Sunday afternoon.

[serious crayons]

My point is that less than 100 million people in the US live in core urban places where the existing system of travel is more or less convenient for them, assuming that when they travel, they want to go to another core urban area, rather than to someplace like...Wyoming. 225 million people + or - live in rural, suburban or small metros. When we want to travel, we have to get to the urban center, be herded onto a huge airliner, then do it all in reverse at our destination. And it costs just as much or more.

Not to sound like I'm factchecking your every post    but that urban population sounded low to me. A Census Bureau webpage says 249 million Americans, or more than 80% of the U.S. population, live in urban areas. I assume they're including suburbs, because a different page says most Americans live in suburbs. So that may explain why your number is lower, since you included suburban residents in the other group.

Anyway, many if not most airports are no more convenient for city dwellers than for suburbanites. The Minneapolis-St. Paul airport is closer to some (not all) suburbs than it is to either Minneapolis or St. Paul, and isn't Denver the same? Another site says half the people in the United States live within 17 miles of an airport, and 90 percent live within an hour's drive of one.

Not that any of this is necessarily relevant to the electric plane issue. But it's nice to know so many of us can conveniently fly to Boston!


https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/guidance/geo-areas/urban-rural/ua-facts.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-03-26/u-s-urban-population-is-up-but-what-does-urban-really-mean

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdredge/pdr-edge-frm-asst-sec-080320.html

[serious crayons]

You can tell when I have a story to write -- I come here and research airport and population figures instead. 

[Front-Ranger]

Here's my research:
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/05/22/demographic-and-economic-trends-in-urban-suburban-and-rural-communities/
Only 98 million in the US live in the core urban areas which are the airline hubs. Even though I live in the hub of Denver, I am frequently routed through Houston, Toronto, or (gasp) Chicago when I want to go someplace entirely different. I remember when things were different, when you could book a flight from, say, Wichita to San Antonio, whereas now you have to go to Dallas or Houston and then to another place,

[serious crayons]

Only 98 million in the US live in the core urban areas which are the airline hubs. Even though I live in the hub of Denver, I am frequently routed through Houston, Toronto, or (gasp) Chicago when I want to go someplace entirely different. I remember when things were different, when you could book a flight from, say, Wichita to San Antonio, whereas now you have to go to Dallas or Houston and then to another place,

Oh I see, airline hubs no doubt have different figures.

Here's where I got the statistics on how many people live how close to an airport. It appears to be the blog of some random dude who got curious because his girlfriend is flying around for job interviews, but his data and methodology seem pretty meticulous.

https://www.mark-pearson.com/airport-distances/#:~:text=Half%20the%20people%20in%20the,close%3A%20less%20than%209%20miles.&text=Distance%20(mi.)

As for layovers, can't you book a direct flight from there? When I buy a plane ticket it gives me a bunch of options of times, prices, etc., including whether it's direct or not. The ones with layovers aren't necessarily cheaper, so I don't get why anyone would pick those, but maybe they just bundle a regular flight from Denver to Chicago and one from Chicago to Miami in case anyone wants to do that.

I once took a flight  from Minneapolis to Atlanta that went through DENVER, which definitely doesn't make sense from a climate-change standpoint.

[serious crayons]

That's all true, but that wasn't my point. The Alia, and similar electric planes, can't replace airliners to move large numbers of people long distances.

Not at this time. But it wasn't so long ago a cell phone was the size of a shoebox. These days cell phones aren't just small and light but they can do a million other things, with more computing power than my old desktop had. So maybe with planes it's just a matter of time until they can make batteries smaller, lighter and more powerful.