Playing the long game: A glimpse into the future of long distance travel

A new report has shed some light on long distance travel in the UK, and has offered a glimpse into the future.

If the market for long distance travel is a game then the airlines had an unlucky throw of the dice in April. The five-day closure of UK airspace due to a huge cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland cost them many millions of pounds. But, as ever, one man’s misfortune is another man’s gain. With thousands of would-be air travellers forced to change their plans, land-based transport like Virgin Trains, East Coast, National Express and Megabus carried thousands of extra passengers.

The...