The Land, Air and Sea Transportation Industry

The Land, Air and Sea Transportation Industry

The transportation industry specifically passenger transportation or passage, plays the most important role in the tourism industry, since without travel, there is no tourism. This sector comprises all entities involved in the transportation of people and goods, from a point of origin to a destination point, or number of destination points, and back to the point of origin.

Land Transportation
This sub-sector includes all land transportation entities, namely, by rail and by road. The inclusions here range from the smallest units, such as tricycle associations, to the large bus companies such as JAM, and Victory Liner and the railroad systems, including the bullet trains. Train terminals, bus depot, gasoline stations, highways, railroads, roads, bridges, and the maintenance of these are essential to this sub sector.

Local car rental companies and the local branches of international car rentals that provide limousine services for departing and arriving passengers, as well as providing similar services for bus, rail, shipping lines and cruise companies and the ever present shuttle service are integral sub-sectors of this sector.

Air Transportation
The air transportation sub-sector, perhaps the most glamorous, involves companies providing scheduled services - Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Zest Air, SEA Air and Airphil Express - and air-taxis operators, plus all air charter companies. Airports, airfields and airstrips are an integral part of this sector.

The air transportation industry is incredibly efficient. An individual may book a flight to a desire destination, pay for the ticket in the local currency, check-in at the airport and fly to the destination – regardless of the stops – in one go without any hassle. Nowadays the reservation, payment and issuance of the air ticket are even possible on-line at home.

• The largest passenger airliner in the world today is the Airbus A380 , a double-deck, wide-bodied, four-engine airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus. It made its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 from Toulouse, France, and made its first commercial flight on 25 October 2007 from Singapore to Sydney with Singapore Airlines. The A380's upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage, and its width is equivalent to that of a wide body aircraft. This allows for a cabin with 50% more floor space than the next-largest airliner, the Boeing 747-400, and provides seating for 525 people in a typical three-class configuration or up to 853 people in all-economy class configurations.

• Another all-new plane made by Boeing will soon hit the commercial skies. Named the Boeing 787 Dreamliner this aircraft is made of carbon composite materials and 15 percent titanium. This combination makes it much lighter than other similar aircraft and with engines made by General Electric and Rolls-Royce of the lightweight category, this jet will consume less fuel and will create less pollution than other planes. The Boeing 787 has space from 290 up to 330 passengers depending of the aircraft’s model. It is due for commercial operations towards the middle of 2011 with the Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) as its launch customer. The use of fatigue-resistant and rust-free composite materials means air in the cabin can be more humid, leaving passengers less dried out and jetlagged after a long flight.

Sea (water) Transportation
This sub-sector includes all water (sea and fresh) transportation operators, such as Aboitiz Transportation Systems operators of Super Ferry and Super Cat and the land-based facilities required for these, such as ports, piers and wharves. The categories of sea travel are – domestic shipping and international cruising,
Shown below are the basic differences:

Domestic Shipping International Cruising
Caters to Passengers and Cargo Exclusively for Passengers only
Fixed point-to-point routes Flexible grid or circle itineraries
Limited facilities and amenities Full amenities and facilities
Limited Port Facilities Excellent Port Facilities
Domestic in Nature International in Scope

The largest cruise ship in the world today is the Genesis-class “Oasis of the Seas” of the Royal Caribbean Lines. The 225,282 gross registered ton vessel, with a displacement of 100,000-ton, equal to a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier . The cruise liner has a length of 360m (an Airbus 380 is 73m long, while the Titanic was 296m) and spans sixteen (16) decks or 72m high, as high as a 23-storey building. She can accommodate up to 6,296 guests in 2,700 staterooms plus a 2,165 crew. A cruiseliner was said to be a ship with a hotel built inside it; this cruise ship is a hotel with a ship built around it.

Oil Companies
Oil companies and the gas stations situated through out the archipelago have a very important stake in the automobile tourism, and are in many ways built to service the needs of the motoring public and travelers in general. Some oil companies publish road maps as a touring aid.

Transportation Modes of the Future

Hyper Sonic Travel
After the phase-out of the super sonic Anglo-French aircraft Concorde, the Instituto de Estudios Avancados of Brazilian (IEAV) is in the process of developing a hypersonic aircraft. This type of aircraft is equipped with a scramjet engine where air is compressed by geometry and speed of the craft. The compressed air is the injected with hydrogen gas that causes the mixture to bursts into flames, driving the craft at hypersonic speeds. This mechanism is an integral part of the fuselage. The aircraft should be active by 2012 to deliver satellites in orbit and for other commercial applications.

Space Travel
The “Space Ship Two” model is the first commercial space-liner owned and to be operated by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Lines. The “VSS Enterprise” is to hitch a ride to the edge of space on its mother ship the “VMS Eve” before flying into sub space on its own power. This spacecraft will provide the groundbreaking opportunity to be one of the first ever non-professional astronauts – an unforgettable experience unlike any other available to humankind. The space ship will allow affordable sub-orbital space tourism for the first time in the history of the universe. Space tourism industry is in its infancy but has developed an interest and investments worldwide.

The transportation industry involves the movement of people and goods from point to point, or points beyond, within a specific area by air, sea or land, including all required and necessary infrastructure.