Nowadays we can travel intercontinentally really rapidly, thanks to many cutting-edge technologies and machines. It is hard to think what life would look like at the moment if planes had not existed, especially when something needs to be transported quickly. I think that the environmental benefits of not travelling by plane do not outweigh the importance of business and individual flyers.
To begin with, many businessmen in addition to high ranked officials , in order to make a deal, need to fly abroad, as it is the only way to travel in a really short period of time. Some meetings need to take place in a specific time and place, and the only way for someone to get there as quickly as possible is to fly. Take the G7 for example, it is where the largest decisions are made and the meeting is in one specific place and often the leaders are informed on a short notice. The only way for them to be able to meet is to travel by plane and if that was not possible they would not be able to discuss critical manners.
Another thing is that travelling around the world would be much more difficult ,when a person decides to stop flying. Moreover, this would severely affect the impact tourism has on the economy of some countries, which may rely on it as a main source of income. A study conducted by Ipsos ,in Greece, in 2022 shows that over 30% of their national GDP comes from tourism alone. If people would not travel, the economy would take a hit and the nation would not look the same anymore. If we were to eliminate flying, the only way of travelling globally would be either by boat or by car, which both are much slower and inconvenient.
To sum up, it is clear that the environmental benefits of flying do not outweigh the impact it has on humanity. Nowadays individuals sort of depend on planes flying us around everywhere, if it were not for them many things would look a whole lot different, and many decisions would have to be made in other ways. Even if planes pollute in some way, it is really hard not to get rid of them and stop flying ,as every now and then our packages are transported in that way.