Which of the following is the main reason for the development of a dense air network in the Eastern U.S.A.?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Industrialisation and Urbanisation with high standard of living
Air transport is the costliest way to travel. Air routes grow where many people and businesses need fast travel and can pay for it, that is, in rich, industrial and urban regions.
Option (1) Suitable climate — Incorrect. Weather affects flights everywhere. Climate does not create the large number of travellers that a dense network needs.
Option (2) Presence of aircraft manufacturing industries — Incorrect. Air routes follow passengers and goods, not the factories that build aircraft.
Option (3) Nearness to sea — Incorrect. Nearness to the sea helps ports and ocean shipping. Aircraft fly over land and sea alike.
Option (4) Industrialisation and Urbanisation with high standard of living — Correct. North-eastern U.S.A. is one of the two industrially developed regions of the world, with large cities and rich people. Business and travel there need fast links, so air routes crowd together. Where population is sparse and economic development is low, air services are few.
Note: The given answer is as per the official NTA Answer Key. The book does not say in clear words why the air network of eastern U.S.A. is dense. It only says that a dense network exists there, calls north-eastern U.S.A. an industrially developed region, and links the lack of air services elsewhere to sparse population and low economic development, which points to option (4).
NCERT (2026-27): “Inter-Continental Air Routes … In the Northern Hemisphere, there is a distinct east-west belt of inter-continental air routes. Dense network exists in Eastern U.S.A., Western Europe and Southeast Asia. U.S.A. alone accounts for 60 per cent of the airways of the world.” “Africa, Asiatic part of Russia and South America lack air services. There are limited air services between 10-35 latitudes in the Southern hemisphere due to sparser population, limited landmass and economic development.” “The Northern Atlantic Sea Route … This links North-eastern U.S.A. and Northwestern Europe, the two industrially developed regions of the world.” |