Elon Musk's visionary Hyperloop takes a step towards reality

FOR the first time in close to a century, mankind may be about to give serious attention to a technology that has the potential to be a true game changer in transportation.

Elon Musk famously proposed the idea of the Hyperloop a few years ago, and suggested it could be a revolutionary method for travel, based on available technology today. The Hyperloop has already created extreme controversy with sceptics citing everything from the cost of land in California to the substantial g-forces that would impact passengers being accelerated from 0 to 700+ miles per hour in a short span of time. Yet while there are reasons to be cautious about the technology, the Hyperloop should also be cheered as the continuation of a long tradition of American innovation and pushing the boundaries of the human experience.

Now Mr Musk's Hyperloop looks set to take its first tentative steps towards reality as a test version of the track is nearing the construction phase. This begs an interesting question: If the Hyperloop works, how big of a disruptive force would it be for the airline industry? The Hyperloop certainly has other (arguably simpler) market opportunities than moving people, such as disrupting the air freight or trucking industry, but those are issues for another time. For today, it's useful to just think about the impact of the Hyperloop on the airline industry.