The research, from the University of Manchester, identified a large number of flights covering distances less than 300 miles between cities that are connected to each other with public transport options.
To create the data models, the researchers used a rapidly expanding data broadcasting system to track worldwide air traffic. Air traffic data was then integrated with aircraft emission models to produce quantitative estimates of the engine exhaust emissions of most aircraft types.
Using the data, the team identified several short flights between several city pairs within the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland, that operated flights over flat terrain and distances below 200 miles.
The most common routes in the data analysed included Copenhagen-Stockholm, Gothenburg-Stockholm; Rome-Milan, Madrid-Porto and a considerable number of domestic routes in Poland, such as Warsaw-Krakow. There are also flights such as Brussels-Amsterdam where good non-air...