Is Air Travel Expected to Increase?

The US Federal Aviation Commission expects air travel to double between 2011 and 2032. During this time, analysts predict that the distance flown by paying passengers will increase from 814 billion miles (1.31 trillion km) in 2011 to 1.57 trillion miles (2.53 trillion km) in 2032. Analysts expect cargo flight distances to increase even more, going from 37 billion miles (59.5 billion km) in 2011 to nearly 102 billion miles (164.2 billion km) in 2032.

More about air travel:

The number of general aviation aircraft is expected to increase by almost 14% between 2011 and 2032.
The most significant change in air travel will be in international distances flown. These are expected to increase, on average, by 4.4% each year until 2032.
Some environmentalists discourage air travel because of the carbon emissions produced by airplanes. Research shows that people in Europe who travel to London, Brussels and Paris via airplane generate 10 times the emissions as those who use the Eurostar train system.