In my specific case, I was looking into travels between Beppu (Japan) and Osaka. There is a direct ferry line, but other routes exist of course (also trains).
I wonder how a ferry and a plane would compare
In my specific case, I was looking into travels between Beppu (Japan) and Osaka. There is a direct ferry line, but other routes exist of course (also trains).
I wonder how a ferry and a plane would compare
Actually air is buoyant too, and water has much higher resistance. I still don’t know what the answer is, and I’m guessing “it depends”, like so often.
If a boat travelled as fast as a plane the extra resistance would likely make it less efficient. And the whole shape would be designed to be most efficient at speed, so you couldn’t carry that much in the first place.
For an aircraft to travel as slow as a ship it would also need to be radically redesigned, and would likely be a lighter-than-air design since low speed makes reliable lift hard.
Zepplins, derigibles, blimps, and balloons are fairly efficient per surface mile. (Less so depending on how they achieve buoyancy…)