Safe, but a turn-off for camels: fun facts on air travel

Air travel is safe: statistically, air travel is the second safest form of transporting people from A to B. The safest method is the elevator/escalator, although you wouldn’t get very far!

But more than 80% of people report being afraid of flying to some degree.

Only 5% of the world’s population has ever traveled by plane.

In 1940, it would have cost one year’s wages to fly from London to New York. By today’s average, it costs just two days’ pay.

Air rage: 75% of all inflight arguments between grown adults are a result of economy passengers reclining their seats.

The distress call MayDay comes from the French m’aidez, which means ‘help me’.

Pilots and co-pilots are required to eat different meals in case of food poisoning

Food tastes different in an aeroplane because of the pressurised cabin. For example, our ability to perceive salty tastes is weakened, so tomato juice tastes sweet.

In 1987 an American airline saved $40,000 per year by removing one olive from each salad served in first class

The internet and on-line check-in was first introduced by Alaska Airlines in 1999

The wing-span of the Airbus A380 is longer than the aircraft itself. Wingspan is 80m, the length is 72.7m

The winglets on an Airbus A330-200 (the upward facing tips of the wing) are the same height as the world’s tallest man (2.4m)

When Concorde used to fly over the Middle East on the early Bahrain routes, there were complaints by locals on the ground that the sonic booms upset camels and ruined their sex lives.