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Aviation activities in global perspective
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
Extract
As the eighth decade of heavier-than-air flight comes to a close, it has become increasingly evident that the nature of progress in civil aviation is undergoing a significant change. The transition from an explosive growth to what has been referred to as maturity has been both swift and unexpected, and coincidentally enhanced by factors external to aeronautics. While the anticipation of timing of such a change usually calls for a predictive ability which borders on clairvoyance, the inevitabilty of occurrence of transition in the development of any technology should be clearly recognised. It should be thus neither surprising that the forecasts of the 1960s have badly missed the mark, nor that the period of transition has set in.
As civil aviation moves into a new phase of development, it is of interest to evaluate the status it has attained globally as a mature industry and service, and to consider the factors which could significantly influence its future. We shall preface the global assessment with a brief review of the major causes of spectacular growth of aviation since 1945—an exercise necessary to appreciate the basis of maturity and the constraints now evident.
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- Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1977