William Woodruff0:19
Well, first, I'm not sure what you mean totally what he means here, Christopher. But what I'd say is, first, I think it's important that we travel and stay connected with the world. One of the less talked about casualties of COVID was the loss of global connectivity, the loss of global perspective. The first time I said this on stage was at COP 26 in Scotland, and it was in November of 2021. And I said, look, before the pandemic, United Airlines carried a thousand U.S. citizens a day to China and a thousand Chinese citizens to the United States, and all that creates bridges and understanding. So that when things happen and there's a crisis, there's a lot of these bridges and perspective to understand. It doesn't mean we'll always agree, but we're a lot closer because we spend time together and understand each other. We carried 100 or so people a day back and forth each day to Russia, and as I said at the time, the world is a more dangerous place because we haven't been connected and people have become isolated and lost touch with others' perspectives. That sadly turned out to be prophetic. So I think the first point is travel is important. It's not just something that people like to do, it's not just important for business, it is important for a global society. Juan Trippe said, you know, something early in his career that his job was shrinking the world when he was at Pan Am, and that is true today. So what we should do, though, we need to continue travel, we need to do it sustainably. And if you ask for disruptive technologies to do that, I think the most disruptive thing doesn't just apply to aviation, it applies to the globe, and that is carbon sequestration. Like, the only answer that we have to get the globe to zero that anyone has today. There's some theoretical silver bullets like fusion energy, but that's probably not happening anytime soon. But carbon sequestration, that's just a matter of cost. We can sequester as much carbon as we want. I personally am an advocate for a price on carbon, for a carbon tax, because if we did that, it would drive the incentives correctly for carbon sequestration. But if you're looking for disruptive technology, it's not unique to aviation, but it is carbon sequestration. At United, we were proud to be partnered with Occidental and 1.5 and what is the world's largest and first commercial scale carbon sequestration plant. Others are starting to do it now. When we started on carbon sequestration, I had to explain what that word meant to people. Many more people know it today. But if you're looking for a disruptive technology that can work, carbon sequestration is probably your answer.
