Modern airliners are indeed remarkably efficient (the fuel cost per passenger mile has continued to decline to such an extent that IIRC most cars are generally worse than a modern airliner). However, the French TGV is largely nuclear powered and emits a lot less CO2 per mile than even the most efficient airliner. Airliners won’t be able to get away from combusting liquid fuels for a long time (if ever). Electric trains however become automatically more ‘CO2 efficient’ when new power stations are built without needing a change in technology in the train itself.
In the example I cited it was a trip from Munich airport/HptBH to Vienna airport /HptBH. Taking into account waiting times etc or door to door.
Here are some numbers:
Another way of obtaining an average is to use the US Energy Information Administration’s averages for the U.S. as a whole. EIA found that in 2006, the BTUs per ton/mile average for freight transportation modes were:
2,801 – Truck
21.976 – Air
So in rough equivalent numbers, if the average 80,000 lb. semi-trailer combination is getting 8 mpg to move 26 tons of freight, the average train is getting 66 mpg to move 26 tons of freight.
Now granted those are not TVG speeds for the trains and its not freight but even if you triple the rail numbers it falls far short then by air. Yes long haul its much more practical to go by air even with a few stops in between but that again only works for longer hauls. So with those numbers in mind just think of how much CO2 and H2O is being expelled not to mention CO and other byproducts into the atmosphere.
Jeez. You have to really, really want to work in aviation.
Isn’t it a great deal that candidates receive a one off payment of 30k even before starting the course ? ;-)
I am a 15 year career pilot and have 3 young sons.
If they choose a path leading to the above pictured, they can look at their inheritance at the local animal shelter ;)
What they omit is that the interview to see if you qualify for this program costs €400.
I know people who have taken this path and are flying for the company today. They are turning this into an industry standard. If you are a cadet, there is no other way to get your foot in the business nowadays. Even the FI-job market is saturated.
EU should make this illegal.
So each 75 candidates not taken pay the initial bill for the 76th who gets it. Not too bad, isn’t it? For the company, I mean.
It’s baffling what people will accept as the norm, and agree it’s a sad situation that they’ve been able to establish this as the norm. Legislation is rarely the answer though – they’ll just find ways round it by structuring it slightly differently.
There are loads of “jobs” where you pay for training and then the earning prospects afterwards are close to zero. One of them is nutritional therapy. It is a 3 year course on weekends (which is a huge cost no matter how you look at it) which attracts all kinds of people who want to change the world, but you can’t make money at the end of it because the clients (to put it rather bluntly, mostly a particular type of client with relationship and weight problems) don’t want to pay more than about 50 quid for the consultation, but you have to do a lot of hours of work on that. Those who make money are those who are reselling supplements with a “dealer margin” (reminds you of another business?) and most of these probably do nothing at all. Yet a vast business has grown up in this area, with certification on top of certification and everybody skimming a margin off everybody below – just like aviation 
So outlawing a route to an occupation where you pay for the right to practice would never be possible.
And BTW the average punter applying to Ryanair has already dropped 80-100k at an FTO to get their CPL/IR and 14 “ATPL” exams…
The numbers will not add up unless you are young, have no commitments, and look at it very long term, eventually going long-haul on which you get the money and, for some, the “cabin crew benefits” 
But, as I’ve written many times before, there are loads of people out there who watched Leonardo DiCaprio in “Catch me if you can” (etc) and think the job is full of long-legged glamour and travel to exotic places. I used to know people who were in it decades ago (as pilots, and cabin crew) and it was like that.
It still is a great job though. A pilot commands respect and has a lot of responsibility, unlike in most jobs where frankly people get treated like dirt, and has great views out of the office windows which most people would envy. This is a great book by a long haul pilot.
Most jobs today are truly dire. Most people in IT are trying to get out of it once over about 40, because they are sick of the ever thickening jungle of “frameworks” and “security stuff” but they can’t if they are any good because good people are so scarce. Some surveys show that 90% hate their job, so flying a 737 or an A319 is probably still pretty good.
The only way to get out of this is to start your own business, and you can certainly do that with much less than what it costs to get a CPL/IR (I’ve done it 2x)
