Acolleague took her family on a round-the-world trip by air during the summer holidays. No, it was not out of a wilful desire to enlarge the family’s environmental footprint. Rather, she and her husband saw it quite literally as the holiday of a lifetime. They believed it would be the family’s last opportunity to enjoy such an experience before it was priced beyond their means.

It is sad to think that the era of cheap air travel, having been with us so briefly, is already drawing to a close. It has enriched the lives of many people, whether using budget fares on long-haul airlines to explore distant lands or making use of short-hop, low-cost airlines to take a refreshing weekend break.