The Geographies of Air Transport

The book edited by Goetz and Budd represents a timely contribution with respect to an important and critical industrial sector for economic development and well being throughout the world. In fact, air transportation constitutes a strategic sector for ensuring the timely movement of passengers and freight in a cost-effective way for a knowledge based society where human capital represents a critical element to foster innovation and competitiveness. Air transport geography is acquiring an increasingly relevant position given the concentration of high-skilled labour and abundant human capital in cities that are the power-houses of development. In order to thrive cities, progressively attracting more and more people, need to be highly accessible also from far away and an efficient air transport system represents a strategically important instrument to compete. Even if the causality nexus is not always clearly determinable one can reasonably assume assume that, in most cases, economic growth is the ignition of a development process that once started needs to be supported by infrastructural and industrial investments as well as an appropriately developed regulatory framework guaranteeing the provision of competitive services for moving passengers and freight