Air Transport & Pipelines

Air travel is the quickest mode of transportation, but it is also the most expensive. Because it is fast, passengers prefer it for long-distance travel. On a global scale, valuable cargo can be moved quickly. It is frequently the only way to reach inaccessible areas. Air travel has resulted in a global connectivity revolution. The frictions caused by mountainous snowfields or hostile desert terrains have been eliminated. Accessibility has improved.

The aeroplane transports various items to the Eskimos of Northern Canada, unhindered by the frozen ground. The routes in the Himalayan region are frequently obstructed by landslides, avalanches, or heavy snowfall. At such times, air travel is the only way to get somewhere.

Airways are also vitally important from a strategic standpoint.

Highlights 

• Though it is the fastest way for commuting, air transport is also expensive

• Passengers who want to travel long distances in a short time prefer it.

• Cargo movement on a global scale becomes possible with air transport

• The regions that cannot be accessed by any other means of transport can be accessed by airways. The challenges created by desert, snowy mountains, and other difficult terrain have been overcome in the recent past

• For example, aeroplanes do the job of providing various supplies to Eskimos i.e. residents of North Canada despite the terrain being frozen

• Aircraft manufacturing and associated operations need comprehensive infrastructures such as landing, fuelling, hangars, and maintenance centres

• Building airports is quite expensive and therefore, you can see them more in the industrialised nations where there is a scope of higher traffic volume 

• The United Kingdom started using commercial air transport via jet planes. However, it is the United States that innovated civil aviation technology after the world war

• Today, supersonic aeroplanes reach New York from London in just 3 hours and 30 minutes

Inter-continental Routes 

• A peculiar inter-continental aerial route via the east-west belt is present in the Northern Hemisphere. The aerial network is dense in Southeast Asia, Western Europe, and Eastern US

• IATA i.e., the International Air Transport Association has laid out rules of safety, security, sustainability, and efficiency for air transport. Around 260 nations are members of this association 

• New Delhi, New York, Amsterdam, Rome, Frankfurt, Moscow, Bangkok, Mumbai, Paris, London, Tokyo, San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles are the points where all the aerial routes either meet or radiate to different continents. They are also referred to as nodal points 

• There is a scarcity of air services in South America, Russia’s Asiatic region, and Africa

• The area that falls in the 10-35 latitude of the Southern Hemisphere lacks air services. It is because of the lack of economic development, low population, and limited landmass

Pipelines 

Introduction: 

Pipelines are widely used to transport liquids and gases such as water, petroleum, and natural gas in a continuous flow.

Everyone is familiar with pipeline-supplied water. In many parts of the world, cooking gas or LPG is delivered via pipeline. Pipelines can be used to transport liquid coal as well.

In New Zealand, milk is delivered from farms to factories via pipelines.

The United States of America has a dense network of oil pipelines connecting producing areas to the Mississippi Waterways.

The Mississippi-Ohio waterway links the interior of the United States to the Gulf of Mexico in the south. Large steamers can travel up to Minneapolis via this route.

Highlights:

• Transportation of gases and liquids like natural gas, petroleum, and water is done through pipelines that facilitate flow without any interruption

• In various regions across the globe, even cooking gas is supplied via pipelines

• Pipelines can also carry liquified coal

• Milk can be delivered to factories directly from farms via pipelines. It is already done in New Zealand

• The huge network of pipelines supply oil from manufacturing regions to consuming regions in the United States. For instance, the Gulf of Mexico has numerous oil wells that supply petroleum to the North-eastern states via a popular pipeline called Big Inch 

• In future, a pipeline will reach India from Iran via the oil and natural gas pipeline of Pakistan. It will be the longest pipeline in the world

In Conclusion:- 

Air travel is the quickest way to get from one location to another. It has cut distances by reducing travel time. It is critical in a vast country like India, where distances are great and terrain and climatic conditions vary greatly. Whereas the pipeline transportation network is a relatively new addition to India’s transportation landscape. These transport crude oil, petroleum products, and natural gas from oil and gas fields to refineries, fertiliser plants, and large thermal power plants.