Buses are also useful in keeping cities satisfied: you don't have to flatten half of the town before you can build a bus stop.
Especially later in the game, cities you haven't connected so far can get quite annoyed when you try to build an airport or train station right away.
I usually start by connecting some industries by train, then the largest cities, then link the smaller ones by bus. Heliports can also be nice if you've got too many passengers waiting at a bus stop; just build a heliport next to it, it takes only one square.
Imo aircraft only start being profitable once your cities have reached a decent size (well, a decent number of pax per month), and I hardly use aircraft before the big airports and 592 mph aircraft are available.
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A sickened, sensitive shadow writhing in hands that are not hands, and whirled blindly past ghastly midnights of rotting creation (Nyarlathotep, H.P. Lovecraft)
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