The trouble with a market-based approach to anything is that it deals with wants, not needs. Nearly 80 per cent of world flying takes place in and between Europe and North America. The bulk of it is trips of less than 500 kilometres where modern high-speed trains could often compete effectively. A tax-free environment has enabled air fares to drop an average 42 per cent in a decade. Airlines have enjoyed a huge hidden subsidy from duty free sales while airports enjoy public investment in access roads and infrastructure.
Shipping enjoys equally calm fiscal waters.
We live in an era when contempt for 'big government' has become central to political and commercial life. Industry thinks globally but is taxed and regulated locally. Advocates of globalisation argue that national governments alone provide adequate checks and balances on commerce. The environmental effects of the two industries that lie outside the loop, shipping and aviation, belie this. Regulation by today's UN bodies, so easily grounded or sunk by hostile member states, is plainly no answer.