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Geographic perspectives on civil aviation have traditionally been situated within the conceptual landscapes and languages of a transport geography in which quantitative methodologies have been to the fore. While such perspectives have shed light on the increasingly complex morphology of global air routes, this article argues such approaches tend to downplay crucial questions concerning the social production and consumption of airspace. Drawing on ideas from the newly-emergent 'mobilities' paradigm, we use this article to fl ag up some alternative geographies of air travel, arguing that socially-and culturally-infl ected perspectives can usefully reveal the iniquitous imprints of global air travel at a variety of spatial scales. We hence conclude that there is much to be gained by adopting such perspectives, and argue that work on the social dimensions of air travel is vital in a discipline where air transport is routinely described as an enabler of globalization, yet is often treated as an abstract, and oddly disembodied, space of fl ows.

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The aim of this paper is to undertake a comprehensive study of LCC market entry

M]odelling and simulation sit uncomfortably in science both socially and epistemically, because of the boundaries they cross. '' Sismondo (1999, page 247) 1 Introduction On 2 November 2006 the United States Air Force launched Cyberspace Command.Complementing their existing Air Combat and Space Command, the new Command facility sought to establish and preserve not only``freedom of access and commerce in air [and] space'', (1) but also cyberspace. The increasing use of such networked battle simulations by military forces means that the ability to`fly' and fight' is increasingly being taught in a virtual realm, and code has become a medium through which aerially mobile objects and forces are structured, trained, and coordinated. For the US and other armed forces, computer code, and the infrastructure that carries it, has become a new territorial space whose exploitation enables them to achieve`full spectrum' dominance (Graham, 2004;Weizmann, 2002). (2) Cyberspace, not real space, has become the new territorial`high ground'. (3) The importance of computer code to commercial aviation is similarly evident. From the check-in desk to the flightdeck, aeromobile objects and bodies are screened, sorted, and monitored by a labyrinth of networked computer systems. For the most part, these systems are taken for granted and our dependence on them only revealed when a computer breakdown at air traffic control grounds flights or a malfunctioning baggage system misroutes luggage.

The reasons for, and the implications arising from, the underrepresentation of women on the flightdeck of commercial aircraft continues to challenge national Governments, the aviation industry, and the academic community. Although some airlines have made concerted efforts to improve the gender balance of their flightcrew, womens' participation in the profession remains low. Of the 130,000 airline pilots worldwide only 4,000 (3%) are women and only 450 hold the command of Captain. The dominant historical discourse of airline pilots as assertive masculine figures may act to dissuade women from pursuing a career on the flightdeck and women pilots are subjected to sexist remarks and behaviour from colleagues and passengers. Given commercial aviation's increasing growth worldwide and the concurrent increase in demand for highly skilled labour, the inability to recruit and retain women pilots represents a significant problem for both the sector and the wider economy as it will constrain growth, hinder aviation's expansion by failing to capitalise on women's skill sets, and delay the achievement of gender equality. Understanding the experiences of flightcrew is therefore vital in addressing this important research problem. Through the use of in-depth interviews with men and women flightcrew in the UK, the research identifies a number of obstacles to greater female participation and recommends that airlines not only focus on gender differences in learning, leadership and communication but that they also take steps to more effectively manage diversity in their workforce and actively promote positive representations of women flightcrew both within and beyond their organisation. Highlights• Women are underrepresented on the flightdeck of commercial aircraft.• In-depth interviews are used to examine the experiences of women pilots in the UK • Women experience barriers to entry and sexist attitudes in the workplace • Lack of women mentors is an issue but women find the career rewarding • Recommendations are proposed that may help airlines address the gender imbalance.

In recent years, the implications of globalisation for the spread of infectious diseases has begun to emerge as an area of concern to political geographers. Unsurprisingly, much of the contemporary literature focuses on the multifarious threats posed by human and, increasingly, non-human mobility. Prompted by current geo-political concerns surrounding the public health implications of regular international air travel, this paper extends such research by exploring the ways in which the technology of the aeroplane stimulated the production of new international sanitary initiatives aimed at safeguarding global public health in an era of mass aeromobility. By tracing the development of sanitary regulations for aerial navigation, from their origins in the 1920s through the twentieth century in particular, we document the emergence of a series of public health interventions that were designed to limit the public health threat associated with increased international air travel and the concomitant rise in the mobility of infectious diseases. From inoculation certificates to quarantine and the routine 'disinsection' of passenger aircraft with powerful insecticides, modern air travel is replete with a complex set of procedures designed to lessen the risks associated with flying between different climatic and ecological zones. Our detailed examination of the historical context in which these procedures were devised and implemented leads us to consider the importance of time and space, power and efficacy, to the development of a more nuanced understanding of the shifting public health response to an increasingly fluid, mobile, and inter-connected society.3