Some observers believe that Emirates is a pioneer of low-cost long-haul travel, capable of keeping economy fares below competitors' if it has to.
The only professional league so far to feature regular long-haul travel is Super Rugby, which features teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
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And for real long haul business travel nuts, his newsletters both review premium cabin seating, food and entertainment (and even bathrooms) in excruciating photo detail.
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Global warming not only threatens some of its most spectacular tourist destinations, such as the Great Barrier Reef, but may make long-haul travel environmentally incorrect.
Led by Dubai's Emirates, Gulf airlines are redefining long-haul travel.
At Glasgow Airport, officials said the rise in passengers was down to strong demand for domestic and long-haul travel, coupled with Lufthansa Regional's launch of direct flights to Dusseldorf.
This could bounce back quickly with economic recovery in America and, provided that cost increases from environmental measures are not too onerous, the long-haul travel on which BA's profitability depends should revive in time.
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According to McKinsey Global Institute, the consultancy's research arm, global long-haul travel increased by 31% in the decade to 2009 while foreign visitors to America (excluding from Canada and Mexico) dropped by 2m, to 24m.
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When the prime minister, Tony Blair, was asked if he was willing to forgo long-haul travel to reduce his carbon footprint, he explicitly contrasted personal behaviour with the framework of public policy, and argued for the supremacy of the latter.
Although the controversy about long-haul air travel has recently put DVT in the headlines, the condition was first described in people sitting on deckchairs in air raid shelters during the Blitz in London.
The big boys could then concentrate on long-haul and business travel.
Whilst much of the attention surrounding scramjets has focussed on the shorter journey times they could bring to long-haul passenger air travel, the first applications are likely to be in the space delivery business - launching small payloads, such as communications satellites, into orbit.
People want to travel direct to their long-haul destinations, not squeeze into huge planes before changing later to smaller ones at crowded hub airports in order to reach their final destination.
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British Overseas Air Corporation was a precursor to BA, concentrating on long-haul routes in the early years of mass air travel.
The company currently employs three different fleets of drivers: long-haul truckers who live in one city but can travel all over the country, regional drivers who drive within a 500-mile radius of their homes, and dedicated fleets for specific customers.
Henry Harteveldt, Forrester's online travel analyst, points out that even wealthy long-haul travellers are just as tantalised by low prices and many use the internet to research and plan their journeys, even though they may end up booking offline.
But in this age of underpants bombers and long-haul flights that charge for potato chips, many workers see heavy travel as a disadvantage.
And because they view buying plane tickets as a challenge, this mix of frequent flyers, travel agents and amateurs are often well informed about the ins and outs of booking long-haul flights or complicated itineraries.
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