Page 12 - AAA NOV / DEC 2024 Digital Magazine | GBP

and high-speed trains.
•According to the European
Commission, rail subsidies
in Europe totaled roughly
$59.4 (€50) billion in 2018.
Meanwhile, aviation subsidies
(primarily for public-service
obligation routes to remote
communities and small islands)
were in the order of $149.3
(€135.3) million across the EU
in 2017 — or around 2% of the
subsidies given to rail.
In developing economies, some
air transport infrastructure is
financed through World Bank proj-
ect loans. In 2018, this amounted
to $979 million in investment, a
decrease of 4% from the previous
year due to the completion and
closing of larger airport infrastruc-
ture projects. This amounts to
only 2% of the World Bank’s $48.2
billion transport portfolio (which
itself is less than one-sixth of the
total invested that year).
Another enormous benefit of
aviation is that it enables migrant
workers to work in developed
countries and remit home their
salary to support and improve the
lives of their families.
According to the United Nations,
the number of international
migrants worldwide reached
nearly 272 million in 2019, of
which about six of ten were
migrant workers who move
abroad for employment purposes.
Migrants collectively contributed a
record $714 billion in remittances
worldwide in 2019 (of which
$554 billion were sent to low-
and middle-income countries).
Remittances, where someone
working abroad sends part of their tion for many means travelling
earnings to family back home,
have exceeded official develop-
ment assistance — by a factor
of three — since the mid-1990s
and were on track to overtake
12 | NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2024
A320s being readied for delivery to airlines. Airbus
foreign direct investment (FDI) be feasible, particularly for short-
flows to low- and middle-income er-term university exchange
countries in 2019. The continuity programmes, such as the
of remittances is supported by the European Erasmus system. Air
maintenance of family and cultural transport connectivity can make
ties — aided by air transport links. these ambitions far more likely
to be realised. For students from
This source of overseas income developing countries, the oppor-
plays a significant role in some tunity to travel to established
nations and does not only help universities for higher education is
alleviate poverty in less-developed invaluable, as well as benefitting
countries but also helps achieve the university and surrounding
the SDGs more widely. For communities. This helps the
example, remittances accounted individual’s personal improve-
for nearly 30% of the GDP in ment and also creates benefits for
Tajikistan, Nepal and the Kyrgyz
Republic and even 37% in Tonga their home country, as students
and Haiti in 2019. return armed with knowledge to
contribute to their home economy
Yet another benefit of aviation is in and with strengthened links to the
the field of education with airlines global economy.
enabling inclusive and equitable
quality education and promoting Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates
lifelong learning opportunities. was certainly right, when he said:
To access higher-quality educa- “The Wright Brothers created
the single greatest cultural force
to another country, sometimes in since the invention of writing.
another region of the globe. The airplane became the first
World Wide Web, bringing
Without air transport, these people, languages, ideas, and
opportunities simply would not values together. ”
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