There are places even in the US where travel virtually demands flight. In southeastern Alaska...

That's quite true, and quite beside the point. The point is that there are a lot more places where it doesn't.

If we hadn't let our passenger rail system go to Hell, and spent all the money on underwriting air travel, any overland journey within the US could probably be made at a great deal less cost in energy use and pollution, and if it was less than 1000 miles, probably without much more time being taken up than one now uses in getting to the airport, going through security, waiting for the pilots to finish their lunch, waiting in line with the other planes to take off, actual takeoff and landing, and getting from the airport to one's actual destination...

Peter