Abundance.

I never knew that I needed to carry my entire music collection around with me, until Apple set me up with an iPod. I think that’s an interesting surprise and says a lot about our current lifestyle.

Say’s law states that supply creates its own demand.

So when talking about the airline industry we have to do some crystal ball gazing. The expectations of another 10,000 or so aircraft to be put into commission, in the next decade, prompt me to ask questions on whether I might not look at alternatives for getting to my destination. How many people can we cram into an A380? How many planes can be in the air at one time and still land safely? It goes on and on. Will the abundance of planes and seats prophesised for the next 10 years create the demand airlines are hoping for?

There two schools of thought around shooting people through the air in an aluminium tube. One is make bigger planes along the lines of the A380 and the second centres on smaller planes with capacity to continually fly, turn around sectors. Both want as many people in the air as possible.

So what do I want as the average flyer (okay, so hopefully I’m not the average flyer) who takes a few trips a year, along with the corporate flyer who already spend their lives at airports? I’m certainly not looking to line up with 880 people checking in on an A380 configured for a low cost carrier. Aside from my time concerns, how long would it take to collect your bag, I’m not sure my feelings of safety would be allayed, no matter what the brochure said. Some Asian carriers have indicated the A380 could lend itself to the world’s biggest bus but it’s not one I’m buying a ticket on.

The smaller turn around option becomes a problem when the major airports quickly fill up their slots, pushing you out to the ‘black stump’ to catch your flight. Sometime in my lifetime, there will be a second airport in Sydney, but I don’t see any vacant land within 2 hours of my home. So this option works well for the small percentage living around our capital cities but I’m still no better off.

Wired editor and author of The Long Tail and Free, Chris Anderson notes that every abundance creates a new scarcity. I know for instance, that the free coffee at work does not get drunk and that the barrister downstairs knows everyone’s name and order. Interesting.

So what will be the scarcity when it comes to air travel over the next 10 years? Service? Safety? No baggage allowed? Whatever the outcome, there is one scarcity that today’s corporate and leisure traveler need more of, and that’s time.

Neither of the two alternatives takes that scenario into consideration, so my only alternative is to daydream about the future of travel.

When will I be happy?

“Beam me up Scotty.”

That’ll do it.