Self-study
Support Passenger volume in the airline industry has declined dramatically over the past two years, and thus Support fewer travelers and fewer planes are using airports. █████ ███████ █████████ ███ ██ █████████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ ██ █████ ████ █████ ██████ █████████ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ███ █████ █████ ████ █████ ██ ██████ █████ █████████ ████████ ███████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that it seems surprising that airports are now expanding their passenger terminals. This is because air traffic volume is down, and airport expansion can only be justified by increased air traffic volume.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that airport expansion has to be in response to current air traffic, and can’t anticipate increased air traffic later on. But if airports were taking the current lull in air traffic as an opportunity to make expansions for a later increase, then the author’s argument would be seriously weakened.
7.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ███████████
a
It is generally ████ █████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████████ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ██ █ ██████ ██ ████████
We don't know if the economy is in decline or not. So we can't say that this scenario applies to the airport’s decision to expand their terminals.
b
Low volume in █████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███████ █████████ ████ ██████████ ██████ █████████████ ██ ███ ███████
This answer choice gives us an explanation for why the airports decided to expand right now. The current low volume of air traffic provides a good opportunity to make expansions without inconveniencing the public, in preparation for the future increases in air traffic volume that the stimulus refers to.
c
A rise in ████ █████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███████████████ █████████ ███████ ███████
This doesn't help us. We don’t know anything about how fuel costs or transportation costs relate to the decision to expand passenger terminals.
d
When passenger volume ██████ ██ ████ █████ █████ █ ██████ ██ ████████ ████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████
Irrelevant. We have no idea if there’s a connection between current airport improvements and needing new routes or new planes in the future.
e
A sustained decline ██ █████████ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ████████ ████ ████████
Irrelevant. We're interested in why airports have currently decided to make expansions, not what will happen to airlines if passenger travel continues to decline.