this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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That may be true if you're going the same distance, but planes go a lot farther. A lot of plane trips are unnecessary, and wouldn't be made at all if the plane wasn't an option. Many car trips are also unnecessary, but given modern infrastructure, they tend to be more necessary than plane trips.
Per kg-km flying is higher carbon impact than driving, no matter how full the plane is.
It just isn't. A car would need at least 2 passengers to beat a plane, maybe 3-4 depending on the car. Jet engines are incredibly efficient and planes carry a lot of people. If they all hopped in cars, the planet would turn into a smog hellscape.
If you care about personal emissions so much, take a train.
Sorry - I don't expect you to change your own habits or something, this isn't personal. I work in this space, so to me it's just a fact and not a matter of opinion. Air travel results in higher carbon emissions per kg-km than road travel by about an order of magnitude. Even for long haul flights.
The GREET model: https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/articles/greet-greenhouse-gases-regulated-emissions-and-energy-use-transportation