Perhaps this could be solved by having the planes run at ground level, using some sort of guideway, and using either the guideway itself or overhead wires to transmit the power by direct contact?
They looked into this concept a while back and came to the conclusion that unless the population density was great enough along the guideway, the maintenance cost was too high.
The U.S. seems to be able to maintain a quite impressive railroad system for freight purposes, in what is still the largest rail transport network of any country in the world. Passenger transport withered away as long-distance road travel and cheap air flights out-competed it. With sufficient ingenuity and capital expenditure, I wonder if perhaps it could be revived?
That would never work! :-)
Of course not. How would they be able to get over mountains? Or through the English Channel?
* The Swiss and the Channel Tunnel just joined the conversation
No way, that's just for filthy plebs. Us elites need to find the coolest way to move our bodies to places to meet other like-minded elites.
Yeah, trains don’t run over the ocean.
This proposal doesn't either. Unless you are at a strait less than 200km wide. You could hop over the English channel, but if you want to go LA to London you have to take the long way around over the Bering strait.