Health

There is a good deal of evidence that aviation can have adverse health effects. The main direct effects are due to noise and air pollution near to airports.

There are also indirect effects. One of the greatest is climate change.

Air travel is liable to bring disease and possibly epidemics into the UK. Although this is not an effect of air travel per se, the ‘international hypermobility’ that only aviation brings means increasing health risks to all UK citizens, not just those who fly. Health threats include TB, AIDS, bird flu, swine flu, ordinary flu, SARS and even malaria.

The social and economic costs of all these impacts need to be factored in when considering the benefits of air travel.