Originally Posted by
Gone Flying
only way that works is if you assume 1 person per car but every seat on an airliner is full. airliners getting 80 MPG per seat sounds great compared to a 28 MPG SUV but the SUV has 5 seats giving it a 140MPG/seat full or 112MPG for a family of 4
This is a correct rough approximation.
It does not however account for cargo carriage, which is significant on larger jets (non-RJs).
It also does not account for indirect environmental and societal costs of driving for days on longer trips. Also does not account for the difficulty involved in driving across oceans, or desolate wastelands.