Absolutely. The gains that could be achieved by flying even twice as fast isn't much compared to the time we could save if we could get to, from and through air

Absolutely. The gains that could be achieved by flying even twice as fast isn't much compared to the time we could save if we could get to, from and through airports the same way that we move around subway systems: by carrying our own luggage, no check-in, no registration, no reservations, no security, no forced shopping malls, waiting 10 minutes for connections, not several hours. A 2 hour flight, e.g. from NYC to CHI, is often 6-8 hours with all the surrounding nonsense. Getting from Manhattan to JFK, Newark or even LaGuardia is easily 1-2 hours, waiting in the airport, going through security etc. is another 1-2 hours. Getting through the destination airport from the moment the plane touches down and until you are actually leaving the airport with your luggage is rarely less than an hour. And then the transport into the city is another hour. With transatlantic flights it's often 14-15 hours or even easily 20 hours if you need a connecting flight in one end, although the connecting flight is "just a one hour flight", because of all the waiting between flights. Flying is great. Everything around it is terrible.