The days of cheap and easy air travel may be over, but Australian policymakers seem oblivious

‘One problem is the higher cost of domestic and international air travel, with basic tickets often up over 50%.’ Photograph: Diego Fedele/AAP

Headlines and hashtags abut “air-mageddon” and “being Joyced” (delays, cancellations and lost baggage) miss a fundamental point – air travel is unlikely to return to what existed before, at least any time soon.

Australians living at “the arse end of the world“ (a phrase attributed to but denied by Europhile former prime minister Paul Keating) depend on mobility. Cheap air travel, based on large, efficient jets and low-cost airlines, fostered an illusion of integration which is reversing.