Disclaimer: This text reflects only the opinion of its author and does not in any way commit the official word of the French Air and Space Academy.
By Jean-Claude Ripoll, Honorary Member.
Air Transport is one mobility tool among others. Not every movement of an artifact can be completely “carbon-free”. Moving into the third dimension offers many advantages but requires a concentrated source of energy. Moving away from the speed paradigm will make it possible to implement all the resources of technology. A societal disruption in the demand for mobility, combined with real cooperation between modes of transport, would be the major way to reduce the global impact, on a global scale, of this mobility while ensuring the services expected by humanity (Ref. UN Sustainable Development Goals). The place of air transport will be deduced from this, and cannot be arbitrarily decided at this time. In the face of a new challenge, the air industry must rediscover a pioneering spirit worthy of its heroes…
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